We are increasing the difficulty for our fourth weekly challenge! This week, test your knowledge against the books that were used for our first 3 challenges: the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide, and Pathfinder Rage of Elements. Complete the adventure for a chance to win a copy of the Core Rulebook!

To participate simply click the following link: https://loremasters.com/pathfinder/play/multiplayer?data=d9b8fffb-df2e-4712-838a-2b278586d16b

For more information on this week's prize and where/when the winner will be announced please visit the Lore Masters blog: https://www.loremasters.com/news/

Good luck!

The Lore Masters Dev Team

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders! We’re excited to bring you some news about next year’s PaizoCon Online.

PaizoCon Online 2024 will take place May 24–27th.

Our theme for this year’s PaizoCon Online is “Educate, Entertain, Inspire!”—and we’ll be theming our content to match. Learn the basics of Pathfinder and Starfinder, enjoy broadcasted actual plays, and find out what the future holds here at Paizo!

This year we will be expanding the selection of panels and events being held in our Paizo Events Discord server. On top of public panels on our Twitch channel and the free, no ticket required hangout spaces and staff AMAs, we will be hosting ticketholder-exclusive games, panels, and social events via the Discord! Purchasing a ticket to PaizoCon Online allows you to participate in these events, as well as Organized Play and Community Play games throughout the weekend.

Introducing “PaizoCon @”

We tested the waters of a concurrent in-person event last year, partnering with KublaCon in California. This year, we’re excited to announce “PaizoCon @”, a program that brings PaizoCon Online gaming to a selection of in-person events!

We will once again be partnering with KublaCon in 2024—not only offering in-person Organized Play gaming, but also a physical space within the con to watch our livestreamed PaizoCon Online panels!

We are also very excited to be partnering with a selection of local game stores throughout the United States and beyond! Be on the lookout for an upcoming list of participating friendly local game stores!

As PaizoCon Online gets closer, we’ll have more news about the panels, events, and more! We’re looking forward to seeing you at our annual celebration of all things Paizo!

It begins as a spark—whispered words in a tavern, a slogan scrawled in a sordid alley, a quiet conversation in one of the great halls of power. It can sweep through neighborhoods like a fire, taking over entire cities with a rapidity that can scarcely be believed. Rulers may fear it, and the populace may hope to control it, but kings and paupers alike can be consumed by it. This powerful force has many names, but it’s most commonly known as . . . Revolution!

The time has come! Steve Jackson Games is thrilled to announce the release of our latest game: Pathfinder Revolution! Based on Revolution!, a game designed by Philip duBarry and edited by Steve Jackson, Pathfinder Revolution! engages players in a game of subterfuge and political scheming. While the original game took place in an unnamed colonial city, Pathfinder Revolution! transports players to the city of Korvosa, home of the Crimson Throne itself. This means that fans of the classic Adventure Path Curse of the Crimson Throne will be able to experience the setting of Korvosa in an entirely new way. And if you haven’t played that Adventure Path, don’t worry—you don’t need to know anything about the history of Korvosa to enjoy this new game.

So, what is Pathfinder Revolution! all about? The premise of the game is simple: use gold, blackmail, or force to gain control of key areas of the city. During each turn, players secretly bid for influence by using the resources at their disposal. Their bid boards list prominent characters and organizations, some of which are exclusive to Korvosa (such as the Hellknight and the Catsdew Lofties). These individuals and groups can be swayed with the right combination of resources, but successful players must strategize to prevent their competitors from outbidding them. Players win if they have earned the most support by controlling enough of the key areas of Korvosa.

I’ve been excited about Pathfinder Revolution! since I started at Steve Jackson Games back in May of this year. I love games with interesting mechanics, engaging premises, and unique theming, and Pathfinder Revolution! combines all three. If you’re looking for a game that gives you a new perspective on Korvosa, or that just gives your gaming group a reason to get together between campaigns, you’ll definitely want to check out this board game on the Paizo store, at your FLGS, or at Warehouse 23, the official online retail store for Steve Jackson Games.

Katie Duffy
Marketing Manager at Steve Jackson Games

As we cruise into the final days before the release, we’re getting to the end of these preview blogs, but we figured there’s probably still a few things we can talk about. How about orcs and the updated mixed ancestry rules?

Orcs are a common ancestry now, and appear among the Player Core options alongside dwarves, goblins, elves, humans, etc. This reflects not just a mechanical change, but also the ever-evolving state of our lore. With the undead hordes of the Whispering Tyrant seething outwards from the Gravelands, the orcs of Belkzen have seen their home transformed into one of the primary battlegrounds, raising their axes and torches high to fend off the encroaching darkness.

Illustration by Gabriel Scavariello

In becoming the vanguard of one of the greatest ongoing struggles threatening the Inner Sea, Belkzen’s orcs have also formed an ever-increasing number of alliances with their neighbors—something that is a source of contention for some of the less friendly holds…but that’s a story for later!

To help our new orcish allies with their battles, we’ve brushed up a few of their feats, as well. The old Hold Mark feat wasn’t great, especially in the context of some of the improvements we’ve made to ancestry feats; the Orc Weapon Familiarity feat now automatically gives you the benefits that used to require taking Orc Weapon Carnage as soon as you hit 5th level, without needing to spend any further feats. So, we reworked Hold Mark into a new 1st-level feat based on some of the orc holds of Belkzen that gives you training in a key skill and a constant bonus to saves against a specific type of magic—which does stack with the bonus from Orc Superstition, if you want to go that route, allowing orcs to be particularly resilient against certain types of magic!

As orcish heroes have spread across the Inner Sea, the opportunities for heroes of mixed orcish ancestry to carve out a place for themselves have also multiplied. Dromaars, as children of mixed orc and human ancestry are known in Belkzen, are one of the mixed ancestry examples provided in Player Core. The word dromaar is an orcish word, referring to those drummers whose music sends the hordes marching to war; many of the current generation of dromaar adventurers view themselves as heralds of a new age for orcs in the Inner Sea region.

While most dromaars from Belkzen have either one human parent and one orc parent or two dromaar parents, dromaars from other parts of Golarion might have some other ancestral mix; orcs and dwarves in Arcadia, for example, have a much more cooperative history together than the orc and dwarf nations of the Inner Sea, and it’s possible that the dromaars on that continent might have a significant population whose ancestry is of mixed dwarf and orc descent.

Illustration by Oleksii Chernik

Dromaars aren’t the only example of a mixed ancestry presented in Player Core; aiuvarins are people of mixed elven ancestry, typically having a human parent on one side and an elven parent on the other, though other mixes are entirely possible.

While introducing the aiuvarins, we took the opportunity to clean up some confusion around options like the Elf Atavism feat, which had some unclear interactions with things like the Ancient Elf heritage.

Previously we’d presented options like aiuvarin and dromaar as human heritages, specifically half-elves and half-orcs. By pulling them out of the human ancestry and making them the first two heritages of the new Mixed Ancestry option, we open up a whole new world of possible options to customize your characters and your worlds. Currently, if you want to make a new Mixed Ancestry that represents people of partial dwarven, gnome, goblin, or other descent, you’ll need to use the example set by the aiuvarin and dromaar heritages to create your own, but in days to come I wouldn’t be surprised to see more mixed ancestry options appearing as we push back the edges of the map and do deeper explorations of Golarion’s other continents.

Michael Sayre
Design Manager

Greetings fellow adventurers and heroes! We’re about to share some thrilling news! Paizo has joined forces with Natural Pengu to bring you cart loads of live play Pathfinder content ( https://www.twitch.tv/naturalpengu ) AND the ultimate Pathfinder virtual tabletop experience (https://naturalpengu.com )!

Natural Pengu is the emerging champion in the world of virtual tabletops with an unwavering quest to make playing Pathfinder a breeze! Whether you’re a newcomer or a veteran to the realm of dice and soaring dragons under the open skies, you can dive right in without hesitation. No more battling a horde of browser tabs and spending hours merely preparing for the game. Natural Pengu caters to all your Pathfinder needs on one heroic platform. You can just start playing!

On November 15th, the early access Natural Pengu - Player Core Toolkit will be launched. This is the first of the three phases for releasing the full-blown Natural Pengu Virtual Tabletop.

If you thought convincing your friends to finally jump into playing Pathfinder was a difficult task, think again! With the Player Core Toolkit at your fingertips, character creation, character sheets, and calculating dice roll modifiers become a walk in the park. If you already have purchased the Pathfinder Player Core rulebook, you're in for a treat! Natural Pengu integrates the new rulebook seamlessly into the platform, providing you with on-the-fly access to all the rules you need. It's like having a personal bard at your side, always ready to recite the right verse to guide your adventure. Say goodbye to interrupting the flow of your story with sifting through a pile of rulebooks.

And the best part? No downloads necessary! Natural Pengu Player Core Toolkit operates right on your web browser, whether you're on your computer, laptop, tablet, or even your mobile phone. The choice is yours, and the fun is limitless.

Ready to embark on your journey?

You can subscribe to the Player Core Toolkit for $1.99 per month on November 15th at naturalpengu.com . BUT if you sign up to our email list today, you get your Founder Player Core Toolkit subscription for only $0.99 until the end of time as we know it!

But there's more! Natural Pengu has accepted the quest for making the new remastered Pathfinder Core rulebooks easy to read (and looking as close as possible to their sweet original Paizo layouts) even on your mobile phone! Latin American Spanish translations are also in the works.

Sign up to the mailing list today, and you’ll get to buy Pathfinder Player Core with Natural Pengu integrations for only $21.99 on November 15th! ($2.00 if you already own the book.) On the day, you can download your PDF from paizo.com, see all the remastered Player Core rules on Natural Pengu Player Core Toolkit, AND you will be among the very first to get early access to all the added Player Core treasure mentioned above (interactive mobile Player Core etc.) as soon as they are up on Natural Pengu VTT.

Stop by the Natural Pengu Twitch channel to join the fellowship, or find some TTRPG goodness on the Natural Pengu YouTube channel.

With Paizo's Remastered Pathfinder rules and Natural Pengu Player Core Toolkit, your adventure is just a click away. This is your chance to step into a world of adventure, magic, and camaraderie. So, what are you waiting for, dear heroes? Sign up for the release of the Natural Pengu Player Core Toolkit and get 50% off the subscription when it drops, and a great deal on the new amazing Pathfinder Player Core book! Let the dice roll and your stories unfold!

Take a tour of the Inner Sea region through our third weekly challenge! This week, test your knowledge against the Pathfinder Lost Omens: World Guide. Complete the adventure for a chance to win a copy of the Pathfinder Lost Omens: World Guide.

To participate, simply click the following link: https://loremasters.com/pathfinder/play/multiplayer?data=c4f67e83-4620-4905-931d-e7bfffc33307

For more information on this week's prize and where/when the winner will be announced, please visit the Lore Masters blog: https://www.loremasters.com/news/

Good luck!

The Lore Masters Dev Team

GOBLIN DOWN!
The Black Powder Cadre took a hit in this marathon, and lost one of its founding members. Like we said in our last report, author Vanessa Hoskins will surprise you. No finger-pointing amongst the team here—we got surprised—plain and simple. Before we get to what happened, this daring all-gunslingers project has lasted longer than many of us expected, so get caught up if you need to:

• Introduction
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

Summer marathons are usually grinders for us, and that’s exactly what we did for this one. It was too hot for any post-session fire pit gatherings, so we just kept playing until enough voices called it. The second day of this marathon saw an eighteen-hour run, and came within sight of our record for the longest session on the Paizo blog. We even had our friend Joe O’Brien—from the Glass Cannon Network—with us again, returning as Axayaca, the Beast Gunner from Arcadia. Joe wanted the full Order of the Amber Die (OAD) experience this time, so on the day he was here we decided to push until O’Brien threw in the towel. We’ll offer this to Glass Cannon fans: Joe can grind!

If you’ve read our reports from years past, you’ll know one of the main secrets to playing the longest sessions in the industry is actually our GM. It’s Adam who will drag you long into the wee hours of the morning, jumping around behind the screen at every natural 20 along the way. He’s just been this way since ’87, and we keep making the mistake of thinking he’ll slow down.

• Adventure: Hands of the Devil
• Marathon Length: 63 hours, 40 minutes
• Session Hours: 44 hours, 30 minutes

It’s for extreme marathons like this one, that we keep a couple of critical care nurses in the Order—you probably think we’re kidding. Now we can officially welcome our newest member, who can roleplay all day, straight after a night shift: Theodora Marcantonis! We’re always on the lookout for hardcore gamers, and while vetting Theodora, we learned she possessed a platinum trophy in God of War: Ragnarök, and spent her precious time between shifts playing Pathfinder:Kingmaker and Pathfinder:Wrath of the Righteous on PlayStation. SOLD! Everyone in OAD gets the team jersey of their choice, and we’re proud to have pink as the newest color at our table. Tess Rajani, Way of the Drifter, has moved from a cameo in our project to a full-time gunslinger in the Black Powder Cadre!

Highlights from Hands of the Devil:

□ We finished out the last blog on level five, with the party having woken a massive amalgamation of discarded flesh and bone. The behemoth surged to life, possessing unexpected speed and maneuverability. We opened with a torrent of gunfire from the balcony, but it responded with a salvo of its own: shards of bone that tore through the Cadre, forcing us into a fighting retreat. We leapfrogged back through the level, managing to hold the monstrosity’s advance at a couple of key locations where it couldn’t afford to press into our firing line. When our options dwindled, we made our final stand on the staircase up to level four. It closed with the party, and Vlai plunged his scattergun into its gooey hide. Click – BOOM! The resulting explosion caused the behemoth to decompose into a necrotic gas that curdled the flesh of the closest gunslingers. You get one Hero Point for an entire day during a marathon, and we burned them all here.

□ The Laboratories level of this megadungeon means you’re really in it now, and level six did more than any level so far to put the “Abomination” into Abomination Vaults. Disgusting fleshwarps of varying sizes, seugathi researchers performing experiments best left off this blog, and even scientific viewing galleries were intermixed within the chambers we explored. We use our soundtrack to stay immersed, and there’s good reason why we chose Chevelle’s Peach as the song for this level.

□ You know that rule about not stepping into a portal by yourself? Yeah, well this is OAD and we’ve always said that there are few absolutes in Pathfinder. Tess strode right into a teleporter that landed her in some kind of testing grounds, complete with a seugathi taking notes on how quickly its destrachan subject would annihilate her. She decided the best course of action was to run like hell and lead the reptilian aberration toward our party; after all, we brought guns to this megadungeon. As it turned out though, the destrachan brought artillery. It let rip with 201 damage to the Cadre in a single area-of-effect blast from its Destructive Harmonics, creating a new pedestal of statistics among our enemies so far. For the record, you can go through a portal by yourself in this game and survive.

□ In case you needed more from our “Vanessa will surprise you” theme, here it is: there is a tavern in this megadungeon. Yup, full of morlocks and such, ready to kill you or crack a beer—your choice. Stay long enough, and you’ll end up in a battle of the bands versus Shadow Malice. Think of an all-star lineup that only the Darklands can produce: duergar on drums, xulgath on guitar, caligni on bass, and ratfolk on vocals. We survived the solo portion of the competition due to the adept acrobatics of gunslingers, but the group section was a major problem—made worse when Shadow Malice let it rip with “Shout at the Devil” at full volume, even out-of-game. It was daunting to try and show them up with just one roll and a +8 Performance modifier. That is, until Breen’s natural 20 made us the hottest new band of the Abomination Vaults! When the crowd yelled for our name, we looked to Zoric, the naming phenom who once accidentally coined us “The Blue Coat Adventurers.” This time, he looked right back at the party and made it clear: "hey, don’t look at me.” The bartender screamed out Zoric’s response in Undercommon. Then several other denizens screeched the name in unison: “DON’T LOOK AT ME!” It was too late; Zoric had done it again.

□ While confronting a seugathi and its latest fleshwarp creations known as dreshkhans, we once again met our match in the ballistics department. Dreshkhans have an ability known as Needle Spray, or “Death Blossom” as those of us who grew up watching The Last Starfighter call it. If it wasn’t for our Player Captain making Risky Reload a mandatory feat in this party, we might have needed more word count for the Character Death section.

Character Deaths:

If you give our GM an assassin with free reign to target a single PC, murder will happen. Adam already proved it when he was given a carte blanche assassin during Strange Aeons. This time it was Maloika the Miserable, our ever-curious goblin, who squeezed through an arrow slit into a series of long-unused guardrooms. Inside, lingered Siora Fallowglade, the greater shadow and chief assassin of Belcorra herself—determined to slay again after 500 years. Adam claims that, because he acted out a kill emote from Assassin’s Creed, that’s why he rolled a critical hit to open combat against the goblin. At least it was quick.

The Arsenal:

Maloika is gone, and it sits hard with us, perhaps hardest with his Sniping Duo partner: Zoric. The goblin had grand plans to hang up his guns, then use his relationship with the market owner to open his own megadungeon collectibles store in Otari. We’re carrying on Maloika’s dream, by continuing to take advantage of the organization rules in the PathfinderGamemastery Guide. Our newest followers and lieutenants have overseen construction, which was built over the ruins of the Thirsty Alpaca. We’ve already named the store: Ayla’s Oddities & Collectibles. We even have plans to haul the giant gong out from the arena level, the same one the goblin shot with his harmona gun to wake the behemoth. We’ll make sure it rings every morning when the store opens—in honor of Maloika.

Best Quote from Marathon 4:

(after Vlai managed to hit three party members with one blast from the scattergun)

Axayaca: “Why do you shoot your friends? Do you derive some pleasure from it?”

Vlai: “It’s nothing personal.” (reloads)

Current Situation:

We blasted our way through levels five and six, and just set foot on level seven. It smells like soot. The temperature feels warmer here for some reason, and runes are carved on the walls. Lock and load…

More Content:

Our table was brought to life with the help of Blue Table Painting for the miniatures, and Black Bard Studios for custom adventure-specific miniatures/terrain.

Follow Order of the Amber Die:

-Facebook
-Instagram
-Twitter
-YouTube
-The Abomination Arsenal thread

OPC Musings

I am very sorry to report to you all that Linda Zayas-Palmer’s last day with Paizo was October 20th. Linda has been with Organized Play for more than a decade, from her time as a GM to being hired at Paizo and eventually leading development. She's launched two separate Organized Play programs, which is a feat few can match. We will miss her terribly, and I will miss her especially as a partner in crime (metaphorically, of course; we never did any crimes that you can prove). If you are so inclined, please leave a nice message for her in the comments below!

Digital Adventure Releases

These adventures will be available on November 29, 2023.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-06: Ukuja, The First Wall*
Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-07: Sewer Dragon Crisis*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-10: The Death of Kortus IV*
Starfinder Bounty #10: Those who were Taken

*part of a subscription

Organized Play Foundation/Guides to Organized Play Down

The Organized Play Foundation website, which hosts the Guide to Organized Play, is currently down. At press time, we do not yet have a timeline for restored service. As I have updates to share, I will post them in this thread.

That thread also contains PDF exports of the most recent editions of the Guide we have archived. We’re aware they are not the most up-to-date versions, but they should work for the time being. We’re actively working to get the Guides back up and running for you all!

Pathfinder Society and the Remaster

Last week, we released the first broad strokes of our plans to update characters to the Pathfinder Remaster! It’s a very long blog and I could recap it here, but really, it’s best if you just read it yourself; I promise it’s painless. When the books release on the 15th, these rules will be added to the Guide to Organized Play in much more detail.

Also announced in that blog was the removal of Pathfinder Schools, which are to be replaced with the easier and more fun Pathfinder Provisions. Enjoy the new consumables, whose guidelines will be ready for use in play on November 15 alongside Player Core and GM Core! For the earliest access to the new content, subscribe to the Pathfinder Rulebook line today.

PAX Unplugged

Next time a monthly update posts, I’ll be at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia! You can register for the Warhorn and sign up for games here.

Note that we are offering only a limited number of early signups for our scenario tables. Per PAX Guidelines, demo offerings such as Pathfinder Bounties, board game demos, and Starfinder 2 demos are strictly on a walk-up basis. We’re also reserving a couple of seats at our scenario tables for walk-up players as well.

We’ve still got room for a few more volunteers as well! If you’re interested in helping us show off our games to the PAX Unplugged audience, get all the info and register to volunteer here.

Sanctioning

October was a big month for us! Both Starfinder Enhanced and Pathfinder Adventure: Rusthenge hit shelves, and both are now sanctioned for use in Organized Play! Starfinder Enhanced’s rules can be found on the Starfinder Society Character Options page, and Rusthenge’s sanctioning documents can be downloaded from the product page.

Next on our list is more adventure content, with both the Season of Ghosts AP and the long-awaited (by me) Scoured Stars hardcover compilation dropping in January. After that, Tian Xia and the second half of the Pathfinder Remaster await us!

GM Recognition

Campaign Service Coins

This month, several new Campaign Service Coins were awarded at local conventions! We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether they are a Venture Officer or not), send an email to organizedplay@paizo.com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:
Amie Tracey, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #880
Robert Wiesehuegel , who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #881
Amber Howell, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #882
and Jim Dick (Xathos), who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #905

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios, as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month, we had one GM earn their 5th rank!

5th Glyph (PFS2): Half the Sky (Charlene)

That’s all from me! Until next time: Explore! Report! Cooperate! And get ready to Remaster!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Hello, Pathfinders and Starfinders! We’ve got a few streams coming your way this month—mark your calendars to keep up with everything happening here at Castle Paizo!

Follow us on Twitch to keep up with these streams as they air, and keep an eye out for the VODs, posted to YouTube afterwards.

Paizo LIVE! – Friday, November 3rd at 4-6 p.m. Pacific.

Join us for this month’s Paizo LIVE! November’s topics include an update on the Remaster just before the release of Pathfinder Player Core & Pathfinder GM Core, a delve into Pathfinder Adventure: Rusthenge, and some Starfinder Society news! Plus, get special live election updates from Organized Play Coordinator, Alex Speidel, as we reveal the newly elected First Seeker!

Starfinder 2e Special Livestream — Date TBA

The Starfinder team is excited to bring more live playtests from their Foundry VTT table to your screens! When we have dates and times lined up, we will update this blog with the information. Did you miss our last live playtest? Watch the VOD here on our YouTube.

Excited for Starfinder Second Edition? Make sure you take a moment and vote for your two favorite ancestries and versatile heritages—the results of this poll will help the team determine which to include in the next Field Test.

Remaster Launch Day Surprise — Wednesday, November 15^th at 12 p.m. Pacific.

In celebration of the launch of Pathfinder Player Core & Pathfinder GM Core, we will be hosting a very special stream with one of our Paizo partners. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to the launch!

We’re looking forward to all of this and more here at Paizo! Good gaming!

Howdy, everyone! It’s the Starfinder team reporting in. We got a lot of great data from our recently streamed playtest as well as from comments you’ve sent in on our past Field Tests. We’ve enjoyed sharing these experiences with you. Right now, we need your help to decide the content for our third Starfinder Second Edition Field Test.

If you didn’t already know, we’re creating a new edition of Starfinder, with an open playtest scheduled to begin next year. We’ve released two snapshots of some new rules we’re testing internally as early previews called Field Tests, and we’re looking to release our third preview.

Field Test #3 will include a preview of two Starfinder Second Edition ancestries. We know how important the cantina feel is to the Starfinder community, and we agree that having a plethora of playable alien ancestries is a core part of the game. There are MANY options to choose from and we all have our personal favorites, but we’ve decided to start with the ones that resonate most with the Starfinder community. To that end, we’d like to invite you to vote on which ancestries you would most like to see covered by our upcoming Field Test.

Follow the link HERE to vote for your top 2 ancestries or versatile heritages. The two with the most votes will appear in Field Test #3, releasing January 2024. Please choose from the following options:

Android: Androids are synthetic beings with souls. Most androids look like humans with glowing circuitry beneath their skin.

Barathu: Barathus are floating beings that evolved on the gas giant Bretheda. They rewrite their own genetic code instinctively, shaping their bodies into bizarre forms.

Human: Humans are adaptable, ambitious, and endlessly curious. Originally from lost Golarion, they maintain a robust presence across the galaxy.

Kasatha: Kasathas are four-armed humanoids steeped in the ancient traditions of a distant homeworld orbiting a dying star.

Lashunta: Lashuntas are psychic humanoids who live on Castrovel. Lashuntas evolved a unique dimorphism, choosing whether they grow up to be burly, athletic korashas or graceful, willowy damayas.

Pahtra: Pahtras are a humanoid feline species from Pulonis, known for their achievements in magic, music, and war.

Shirren: Shirrens are a psychic insectile ancestry who split from the Swarm to end a cycle of stellar war and pursue their own identities.

Vesk: Vesk are a warmongering reptilian people who conquered the eight worlds in their solar system shortly after they developed spaceflight. They have claws, scales, and powerful tails.

Ysoki: Once known as ratfolk, ysoki thrive on countless worlds thanks to their flexibility, cleverness, and willingness to accomplish tough tasks.

Borai (Versatile Heritage): A borai is an undead soul possessing a living body. Most borai are created by botched resurrection attempts, necromantic experimentation, or stubborn spirits refusing to die easily.

Prismeni (Versatile Heritage): A prismeni is suffused with the energy of the Drift, a recently discovered hyperspace plane. They are spiritual kin to the spectra who call the Drift home.

Don’t forget to vote for your top two choices here, and bookmark this page for news about Starfinder 2E! We look forward to hearing about your favorite ancestries and versatile heritages. Voting will close on November 15^th.

— The Starfinder Team

-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Starfinder Society Developer
-Mike Kimmel, Developer

Cast Your Vote Here!

 “Can you at least tell me what it does?”

Lem frowned down at the talisman. Feiya had just handed him a cord of braided sinew hung with scraps of fabric and a small yellowed fang.

“All in due time.” Feiya’s coyly reassuring smile almost achieved its goal. Her eyes betrayed her, preoccupied as they were with scanning the darkened corners of the shop. She was on the hunt, and even more terse than usual.

“Out of sight, fang near a vein, yes? Parallel. When the entity manifests, draw its attention. Then,” she growled through a predatory smile, “it’s mine.”

“So,” she chirped, malice evaporated, “the surprise is intentional!”

“Do consider how it might behoove you to be a bit more forthright?” Lem offered cheerfully, shirt pulled over one shoulder as he tied the charm around his bicep. “People appreciate directness! For instance, a witch might clearly label her concoctions in order to assure others that… hrm. Feiya?”

His willowy companion had drifted off around a rack of hats, their broad brims embroidered with scenes of local myths and histories. Lem sighed, dropped his shoulders slightly, and allowed a frown to darken his face. He sidestepped in front of a fitting mirror.

“She’s not listening, is she, Lem?” he asked his reflection morosely.

 “No, Lem, I don’t believe she is.” The mirrored image of Lem in the glass straightened, adopting a genteel tone. “Foregoing the pleasure of our company to go ask a spider for its gallbladder. Or some such.” Lem wrinkled his nose at himself. “Remember the rat?”

“How could I forget?” Mirror Lem mourned anew. “All that chittering, night after night. Daji said they preferred the ferns, but I think he just wanted an excuse to make noise when we were sleeping.”

They’d been tracing the Crushing Shadow for a few weeks, following a trail of property damage and strangulations across inland Ravounel. As best they could tell their quarry wasn’t a person, but some sort of magical force. Lem had picked up traces of hatred and want from the recent murder sites, not as acrid as one would expect from a mortal actor. They were attenuated—just not by time. With the most recent victim, they’d arrived right as her gaze became still and empty, yet even with violence so fresh, the emotions were wan and… dusty, was how he’d described it to Feiya. She had immediately agreed, then started down the path that had led to his strange new accessory.

An integral part of this was her nine-tailed fox’s repeated interviews with a rat. It was of utmost importance, Feiya had said, that the rat give the fang of its own free will. Mostly this had meant Lem got to practice the flute and forage for mushrooms for a few hours a day, and eventually Daji had returned triumphant from his protracted negotiations.

Feiya’s “other source” had revealed that, apart from the deceased’s, no flesh or blood were present at the killing. Lem had overheard Feiya mumbling in her sleep twice. The first time, she had mentioned “the lady’s dark and diaphanous wings,” and the second was something about traveling a path of stars. Then Lem shifted in his bedroll and saw Daji’s little red eyes peering at him over his pack. Since then, he’d done his best to ignore her troubled sleep.

Now, here they were in some packrat’s palace, searching hatboxes for traces of an invisible and apparently unliving force with a particular love for flattened tracheae.

 “Come now, Sad Lem, your tenebrous friend seems to have it all well in hand,” Mirror Lem reassured. “Just make sure that little—hey!”

A flash of white flitted behind a neat stack of bones. Muddy pawprints led from the ossuary and back to…

Real Lem looked down. “I just washed my feet! Do you know how long it takes to style my hair?” he groaned. “‘Back in a town,’ I thought, ‘do something nice for yourself after weeks of rainy roads.’ Should have known.”

A vulpine snicker sounded from the bones. A pair of red eyes glittered between them, then Daji strolled out into sight, nine tails swaying languidly.

“But Lem, practice makes perfect. Consternation builds character. That is my gift to you—the chance to grow as a performer and a person.” The fox knelt, wriggled as if to jump, then paused. “It was both, by the way. They liked ferns, and I liked needling you.”

Daji launched himself upward with a little yipping laugh, landing both atop a bookshelf and above the pincushion Lem had thrown at him. There was a dejected pah, pahf as the makeshift missile bounced off the shelf and fell to the floor.

---

Feiya snorted in amusement. Daji and the affable musician clearly enjoyed their verbal sparring. Truthfully, Lem was better company than she was used to. He didn’t ask uncomfortable questions, and if she shied away from a topic, he never brought attention to it; he just steered clear in future conversations. With him, the shadows of her past weren’t quite so deep, and it was easier to tend the cold and righteous fire at her core.

Never to gutter, never to rage, a still and safe anger to burn ‘til the day.

That was why they were here, really. She had been tracing a ley line when she stopped in a village for supplies. She’d entered the provisioner’s to find a red-jacketed halfling gentleman consoling a weeping shopkeeper. Townsfolk were hauling a body out the door and, being a curious sort, Feiya asked some questions. Seems the insightfulness of her queries impressed Red Jacket and suggested she might be able to help.

She was going to say no. Then she’d heard a child crying upstairs.

Certain things could stoke that cold fire until it blazed through her, and no fuel was greater than a child’s distress. Her face must have twisted, because Red Jacket paused, gave her a curious look, then handed her a torn scrap of the victim’s scarf.

“What do you make of this?” he’d said. “You know, magically. I’m guessing you’ll pick up some of the same things I did.”

Then he’d quickly closed and opened one eye at her? It was oddly endearing.

Now they were traveling companions, at least until this Crushing Shadow was found—assuming Lem didn’t strangle Daji first. She could hear her two companions locked in another of their philosophical debates, this one on the relative merits of mortal works.

Lem was lifting a gleaming sword from its velvet cradle. “…Yes, mortal work, and mortals perish. Yes, steel, and steel rusts. But the meaning we attach to the steel, to the sword and whatever violence it wreaks, that meaning grows tall and wide as wild rose, becomes a vast and tangled thing of beauty and danger both.”

Lem didn’t think Feiya was listening, but that never stopped him from talking all the same.
Illustration by Firat Solhan in Pathfinder Player Core.

“That is one of this great symphony’s mysterious movements!” Lem was winding himself up, gazing into the blade’s mirrored surface, talking as much to his reflection as to the witch’s familiar. “What may we mortals work that outlasts and out grows us? How privileged those few who see how the first stone they lay grows into a road, hear their song a continent and a lifetime away. Why, it reminds me of…”

Daji was weaving toward Feiya between the skulls and candlesticks of a high shelf.

“I walked away after the first sentence.”

He hopped down to sit in front of a black cloak with a vaguely sinister air, and cocked his head at it.

“Smells dangerous.” He nosed the dark fabric, which rippled in a disappointingly fabric-like manner. “Alas. Your new friend talks a lot, by the way.”

“Friend? But yes, he does. I think I like it? It’s comforting. And he makes me laugh in a way that feels good.” Feiya chewed on her lip. “You make me laugh like a cat who’s not done with their dinner. And that usually feels good, too. Mostly.”

She walked her finger under Daji’s chin and gave him a scratch. He made his I am pleased sound, though he’d never admit it. They sat a moment, just the two of them, in the quiet. It was almost like those first days, together in the snow.

“You’ve come far, little one, and she’ll lead you farther still,” purred the fox.

 “…Why is it quiet?”

Feiya turned to see the cloak strangling Lem.

It was wrapped around his neck, a sooty version of that eight-legged fish he’d been trying to explain to her the other day, and he was scrabbling at it to no avail.

She reached into herself for the cold anger that was always there. In her mind's eye it rose from the depths, trailing mist, and curled into long and wicked needles to jab into the minds of those who had wronged her. She snarled, and an invisible fang streaked toward the belligerent garment.

It ricocheted harmlessly off the utter void where the thing’s intent would have been, if it were a thinking, feeling creature.

“Daji!” She yelped, and her familiar responded with his own hungry growl.

---

Woe, woe, for the snuffing of a short-burned flame, the flower plucked before it blooms.

Red and black flames licked slowly at the edges of Lem’s darkening vision.

Enough, Sad Lem. Ideas?

Not a one! Oh, but I think he has some.

Daji was crouched on some taxidermized creature, his nine tails waving slowly back and forth, that bright red coloration crawling across his fur. His eyes glimmered bright as dying stars.

“A creature in sharp artifice will gnaw a limb to aid its flight,” said the fox, words smoldering and spreading. “A last gasp caught twixt death and life can tear as tender as a saw.”

One of Lem’s ragged breaths splintered, somehow, and then each splinter spread knife-like wings to launch itself at the cloak twisted about his neck. It writhed as the magic tore through stitch and seam. Fabric turned rotten and brittle, and the tightness around his neck eased.

The thin trickle of air into his lungs was all it took. The curiosity, the wonder, the desire to live and find out rose from his throat. He fumbled with numbing fingers, but his flute was unreachable. Still, he wasn’t without tools.

A single clear note sounded from his pursed lips. It shimmered against the ear, brittle, a raindrop brimming with the vast waters of mortal emotion and experience. Even standing as he was in death’s threshold, he marveled at how the smallest part of something could reflect the beauty of the whole—

echo of malice pale stitched heart wounds reflection of right that’s it—

“Feiya!” he rasped. “Not possessed, an echo! Recall the sound, remember your—” He stopped, unable to name the thing he had seen in her eyes that first day. He’d carried it himself, once.

But as the note faded, Lem saw the realization spread across her face. She stepped forward, lifted one cool, sharp claw—she had claws?—in front of his face, then sliced it downward. The tip bit into the writhing fabric of the cloak.

His bicep went cold, and that little yellow fang on the sinew thong ripped its way through his shirt. It, too, splintered, and suddenly he was surrounded by whizzing shards of bone, all tearing through gaps left by Daji’s spell. Between the talisman, the magic, and Feiya’s claws, the malicious thing was nothing more than gray tatters, some silver, and a few rapidly darkening red gems.

Lem slumped to the floor and took in a ragged breath.

“Maybe ‘all in due time’ could happen a bit sooner?” The gleam of candleflame across dully metallic nails caught his eye. “And since when did you get so pointy?”

“I’m not certain. It’s been a while.” Feiya lifted her hand to watch her nails lighten and retract. “Thank you for that final piece of the puzzle. I thought it was possession, but when you said to… you know.”

“Yes.” Lem’s bushy eyebrows scrunched together. “Feiya, I can only guess at what’s happened, and I truly don’t mean to pry, but with the strangling…”

A newly lengthened nail pressed against his lips, but Feiya’s expression was calm.

“It’s alright. Thank you,” she whispered, smiling slightly, “friend. Now, we should probably leave before—”

A shadow fell across the shop door’s stained-glass window. The key turned in the lock with the smoothness of an old habit, and a stout man stepped into the building. One look, and his face was rapidly darkening with anger.

“Mmm,” mused Lem, surrounded by shredded garments, bone fragments, and broken glass. “Bit late for that.”

About the Author

Andrew Mullen has been freelancing for Paizo and other publishers since 2017. He brings a keen interest in language and the interplay of geography and culture to his work, as seen in the Magaambya section of Lost Omens Character Guide, the xulgaths in the Extinction Curse Adventure Path, and numerous other monsters over the years. As a full-time parent, his daughter is his most important monster.

About Iconic Encounters

Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

This week, test your knowledge of the elemental planes in our second weekly challenge! Complete the adventure for a chance to win a copy of Pathfinder Rage of Elements.

To participate, simply click the following link: https://loremasters.com/pathfinder/play/multiplayer?data=bfeb89e9-fa40-439a-8979-e6bd8ac9d4f6

For more information on this week's prize and where/when the winner will be announced, please visit the Lore Masters blog: https://www.loremasters.com/news/

Good luck!

The Lore Masters Dev Team

"Ready to keep going? Break time’s done.” Kyra straightened from her meditative stance in the darkened, deadened grass.

Merisiel had been pacing for the past few minutes already, eager to continue onward, muscles twitching in anticipation—chomping at the bit to keep going. Kyra had seen the elf’s posture like this many times and already knew the answer before it was voiced. Still, Merisiel turned an analytical eye toward her companion.

“That’s on you,” Merisiel said. “You used some magic back there. Are you ready to keep moving?”

“I’m ready,” Kyra confirmed, stretching away the stasis in her limbs, chuckling to herself as Merisiel practically leapt forward.

Kyra hung back a step, letting the elf take lead this time. The light was dim and muted here, and Merisiel was far better trained to step silently. Not that they particularly needed to, but it was generally good practice, especially here. This woodland commanded an almost reverent silence.

It wasn’t like other places Kyra had visited. She’d certainly seen her share of forest travel, but the Uskwood—and this particular part of it—was something different. Trees grew tall but held an innate roughness to them; branches twisted, splintered, or hunched as though in pain, yet still reached hopefully to the sky.

She couldn’t blame the trees for reaching toward the light. She would, too, if this was her home. Even the air felt heavier here than it did in sun-touched lands. Blue-gray fog wisped lazily at her feet and slithered away like a living creature. It made travel difficult for the two of them, obscuring the distance but offering a dim, hazy reflection of the light. Small comfort there.

There were stretches of Nidal and the Uskwood where the border between their universe and the shadowy realm of the Netherworld grew thin. While several of these rifts were already known and studied, the two adventurers knew there might be others that would randomly appear.

They’d just hoped to avoid them. Alas.

“It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live here,” Merisiel said, smirking as she made her way forward step by careful step. In the unsettling silence, she didn’t have to speak loudly for her words to travel.

Kyra smiled despite herself. It was technically Merisiel’s fault they agreed to this mission in the first place; she wouldn’t have found herself in the Uskwood under normal circumstances. She responded quietly, “Definitely not.”

Silence descended on them again, smothering and cumbersome. Step by step, they proceeded alertly in this sinister quietude. The shadow-swept wood played with their senses; several times already during their trek, they’d both caught motion out of the corners of their eyes, only to find a disturbing lack of anything substantial. Whispers just on the edge of hearing teased them, only to result in nothing: no one there and little more than a persistent feeling of disquiet and of being toyed with by forces ever out of sight.

It was starting to grate on them both.

“Sooo,” sighed Merisiel quietly, “not to alarm you, but I’ve started to see things again.”

“Me too. Eyes watching in the trees,” Kyra answered. “More this time.”

Meri nodded agreement and both women moved their hands toward their respective weapons in preparation for a fight. During the last few hours, the appearance of the wispy illusions had all been false alarms, but to relax now would be foolish.

The Netherworld is no place for a casual forest stroll. Illustration by Emile Denis from Pathfinder GM Core.

As if guided by the hands of divinity, Kyra caught sight of strange, glowing eyes at the corner of her vision, then turned to look in the opposite direction—just in time to watch the nearby shadows spit out a giant, color-drained cat, its jaw extended and its long, misshapen claws stretching out for her, mid-pounce!

She met the strange creature with a startled cry. Her scimitar flashed in her hand, angled between them. It was an imperfect defense, she knew, even before her sword arm complained from the sharp sting of claw and tooth. At least the creature was wounded as well; its red blood turned gray and shadowy as it met the dark ground and melted into it.

If I’d hesitated but one second longer...

But then Merisiel was beside her, jumping from the fog-filled shadows behind the beast. Her face was contorted into a vicious snarl, and her daggers were lightning-fast, stabbing at the creature who attacked her wife before she retreated out of sight again.

Kyra’s mind whirled as quickly as her scimitar. They’d already encountered a small group of similar creatures, bleached of their color yet somehowharder to see in the dark mists of the forest, which commanded the shadows at their will and were, in turn, twisted by them. The previous attack had come from a sickly-looking stag who needed reminding that deer did not typically hunger for flesh. It was surely a mercy to put the crazed, blood-hungry creature to rest. They’d learned a lot from that battle.

It was the Netherworld’s influence on the real world, she knew. The animal inhabitants of the shadowy plane were bizarre, distorted beings that were a strange mirror to their own. When the planes bled into each other, as they did so strangely here… Well, it was no surprise there was some intermingling of worlds.

That didn’t make it any easier, though.

“It brought a friend!” Merisiel emerged from the shadows again, this time sending two daggers flying. One sank into the meaty, pale shank of the shadow-cat, and the other flew right past Kyra’s ear, hurtling toward the new enemy. “I think you’d be better handle that one, my love!”

With Meri commanding the feline’s attention, Kyra whipped around to follow the line of the elf’s weapon, though the crawling feeling along the back of her neck already told her the nature of the enemy behind her.

The creature was difficult to pick out at first, as it seemed to be merely the shadow of a nearby tree. Kyra’s eyes caught the strange, liquid movement of the being as it slithered from its base, all harsh angles and thorny, smoky darkness made manifest and given horrible life.

Horrible unlife, Kyra corrected herself, already feeling the burning heat of holy purpose filling her breast. Her right hand clenched around the golden idol of Sarenrae and thrust it up and outward. The Dawnflower’s magic answered, and the cleric focused it onto the shadow. A holy nimbus surrounded her clenched fist, and golden, magical fire lashed toward the creature, hungrily seeking to purge the corruption with its own radiant force. The undead reeled as divine magic lashed it, leaving it wounded and weakened.

Between the two of them, their enemies stood no chance. Merisiel’s seemingly endless supply of daggers, combined with her supreme agility, allowed her to easily get herself into advantageous positions. Kyra’s battle might shone as brightly as the angelic ankh idol in her hand, held aloft and glowing with sanctified cleansing magic.

It never failed to impress her how good of a team she and Merisiel made. In short time, their enemies were conquered, their weapons were cleaned, and their wounds were healed with a few, warming words and channeled magics.

Kyra sighed, worn down from a long day of exploration and battle. With a weary smile, she insisted, “Next time, love, I choose the mission.”

“How was I to know it was going to be this exciting?” Merisiel playfully retorted before dropping back into a more serious tone. “Look, we’re almost there. Just think: soon we’ll be at Volsazni Dezarr’s country home. We’ll enjoy a nice, long rest, a good meal, and we’ll be able to ask him more about the artifact we’re looking for. Easy!”

Kyra released a long breath. They could both use a good rest, she admitted to herself.

She had no idea how true that would become by journey’s end.

About the Author

Rachael Cruz is an award-winning writer / game designer whose TTRPG work can be found in Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed-Of, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, Fantasy Age, RuneQuest, Star Trek Adventures, and more! She loves to help people of all ages play pretend and tell amazing stories together. For contact info, social addresses, and general writerly stuff, visit rachaelcruz.carrd.co.

About Iconic Encounters

Iconic Encounters is a series of web-based flash fiction set in the worlds of Pathfinder and Starfinder. Each short story provides a glimpse into the life and personality of one of the games’ iconic characters, showing the myriad stories of adventure and excitement players can tell with the Pathfinder and Starfinder roleplaying games.

Welcome to the Future, Starfinders!

It’s time to celebrate the release of the incredible Starfinder Enhanced! This book gives so many awesome options to any and every class in our game, and none of it would be possible without a squadron of fantastic authors. I’m personally honored to have helped develop their work following the legendary developers John Compton and Joe Pasini, who went above and beyond bringing this incredible book to life. Without further ado, let’s give our amazing authors the opportunity to show us all the awesome projects they have and help celebrate the release of their wonderful work. If you liked a section, consider letting them know in the comments and following them on social media!

Dustin Knight
Developer

Illustration by Paulo Magalhães

Ivis K. Flanagan

Hi all! I'm Ivis K. Flanagan, freelance writer and teacher. Working on Starfinder Enhanced was an awesome highlight for me, as I got to work on a variety of sections: Themes, the Mystic Class updates, and some new creature companions. The creature companions were probably my favorite—and I cannot wait for everyone to get a look at the new furry (and not so furry) friends that I, among others, have gotten to bring to your table.

Outside of Starfinder Enhanced, you can find my work in other Starfinder releases, as well as Pathfinder and other companies. A full list of my current credits can be found here. As for me, when I'm not writing, you can often find me GMing games for anyone who wants to play! If you want to reach out about future projects, playing games, or just to chat, you can find me on Bluesky or email me at ikflanagan at gmail.com.

Jason Keeley (he/him)

Hi folks, I'm Jason Keeley (he/him) and come with me... to the stars! I contributed the narrative starship combat section to Starfinder Enhanced and it was an interesting challenge to streamline the normal starship combat rules while retaining some of the use of currently printed starship stat blocks. Hopefully, those who are looking for a more condensed experience will enjoy it! When I'm not doing things for Paizo, I spend my time recording for the Know Direction network, collaborating with Joe Pasini on puzzles, and generally working on other TTRPG projects—like my cereal mascot game This Compleat Breakfast, available for free at https://herzwesten.itch.io/this-compleat-breakfast! You can usually find me under the name "herzwesten" on most social media platforms.

Jessica Catalan

Hi everyone! My name’s Jessica Catalan and I’m the Starfinder Society Developer and a freelance author who primarily writes for the Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs. My past works as a freelance author for Paizo include eight Organized Play scenarios, one adventure module, five Adventure Path volumes, cover credit on two hardcover books, and a whole lot more! Starfinder Enhanced is very much a love letter to Starfinder, and is packed to bursting with new options for every aspect of the game, as well as new subsystems, alternate ways to play, and enhanced versions of a few classes. Whatever kind of characters you play, and whatever kind of games you run, there’s something in Starfinder Enhanced for you. In addition to working on Starfinder Enhanced on the clock as a member of the Starfinder team, I worked on it as a freelance author. In short: I wrote a LOT for this book. Picking a favorite contribution is a challenge, but I’m most proud of creating novians and holograms (including initial pitching of these species) and writing the new uses for Resolve Points, which will provide players of all classes and builds a lot of fun new tricks. I hope the love and enthusiasm that everyone put into this book resonates with you and that you enjoy the huge amount of new options at your disposal. Now get out there and make some novians! Until next time, Starfinders!

Illustration by Sammy Khalid

John Compton

I’m John Compton, and Starfinder Enhanced was my final project as a Starfinder developer. What a fitting finale, too! Starfinder Enhanced gave me space to explore several big ideas that I’d aways wanted to see in the game, particularly the custom and upgradeable weapons and armor. You’ll also see my handiwork in the enhanced envoy, solarian, and witchwarper, as well as the several sections I developed before blasting off to the Pathfinder narrative team.

John Curtin (he/him)

Hi, my name is John Curtin (he/him) and I had a blast contributing some of the feats and nanocyte options to Starfinder Enhanced! My primary design driver here was asking myself "what, as a player, would make me really excited to see as a potential option," and I my most fervent that at least one GM out there finds out about one of my options from a player and goes "...you can do what now?? That's awesome!!" Here at Paizo, I’ve got more Starfinder credits upcoming, but in true freelancer fashion, the projects I’m most excited to tell everyone about are still under NDA. To hear about my latest and greatest, you can follow me on BlueSky @curtinwrites, on the remains of Twitter @Curtin_Writes, and explore the currently inactive @StarfinderFacts.

John Godek III (he/him)

Hi! I’m John, a gamer, gamemaster, freelance author, and podcaster in the Seattle area. I earned my 5th Nova for Starfinder Society two years ago and have worked on a dozen freelance assignments for Evil Robot Games, Legendary Games, and Paizo. My most recent work includes this summer’s Starfinder Society Scenario #6-04: Secrets Long Submerged and next year’s Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide and Character Guide. For Starfinder Enhanced, I had the opportunity to create new class options for the mechanic, technomancer, and vanguard, plus new augmentations, magic items, and hybrid items.

When I’m not playing, GMing, or writing, I produce three podcasts on the Know Direction Network: Digital Divination, a Starfinder talk show with Paizo Senior Developer Jason Keeley; Intrepid Heroes, a Starfinder actual play whose cast has included Eleanor Ferron, Rob Helm, Scott Keim, Ron and Stephanie Lundeen, Jason Tondro, and Mark Woolcott; Presenting - Gamers Making Games, an interview show where I chat with game designers, developers, artists, and editors.

You can reach me on X (Twitter) @JohnGodekIII and find my podcasts at KnowDirectionPodcast.com or on YouTube at GamingDivination.com. I am always looking for folks to interview!

Illustration by Sammy Khalid

Kate Baker

Hello! I’m Kate Baker, and I was delighted to contribute to Starfinder Enhanced! There is so much cool stuff coming your way in this book. I specifically worked on new grenades, and with so many grenades in the system already, I got to be very creative with introducing new options. I hope your PCs have fun with the new bombs! You can follow more about what I’m up to on BlueSky at @katebakerGM.

Kim Frandsen (he/him)

Hello everyone, I'm Kim, and I'm from Denmark. I've been writing since 2016 when I took part in the RPG Superstar competition (finished in the top 32 too!) and I've been writing, editing, and laying out books ever since. I worked on the Envoy, Operative, and Soldier options and I hope you like what we all made. If you want to see more of my work or get hold of me, you can find me through my beloved Beyond the Horizon over at https://www.beyond-the-horizon-games.com/ — You might have seen my work in various places as well — I freelance a lot and I'm one of the Infinite Masters on PathfinderInfinite. :)

Michael Bramnik (he/him)

Hello there! This is Michael Bramnik, often writing for Paizo's organized play adventures and elsewhere, but now I am here helping Enhance your Starfinder experience! For this book, I had the privilege of writing the Archetypes and Tech Items, and can't wait to see what you think of all of them. From the Major League Coach (who draws on sci-fi sports from other books as well as ones influenced by my SFS experiences) to the musical Audocyte (who emulates my constant need for music almost everywhere I go), each of these archetypes enhance aspects of the science fiction/fantasy genre in ways I hope each of you will love!

Feel free to keep up with my ongoing projects if you'd like (https://canisdirus.carrd.co/), and happy gaming!

Ever since we announced the Pathfinder Remaster project, my inbox has not known peace. Every day I get asked by the Pathfinders worldwide, “how will Pathfinder Society handle the Remaster?” Every day I must give the same answer, “I don’t know yet! Ask me in 1d4 months!”

It’s now 1d4 months later and I can finally start to answer this question! With the assistance of some incredibly dedicated Additional Resources volunteers and no less than six members of Paizo staff, we are here today to present the broad strokes of our plan to convert (or not convert) your Pathfinder Society characters to the brand-new Remastered rules. While we don’t intend for our scenarios to be written using the Remastered rules until Year 6 begins at Gen Con 2024, we know the characters will need to make the switch faster.

Before we get into it, I’d like to offer a couple of disclaimers. First, the rules we’re sharing today are the broad strokes. There will be more specifics to come on release date, but we’re still working our way through specific questions like “what happens to my staff of transmutation now that transmutation isn’t a school?” We’re sharing this today to get you ready for what’s to come.

Second, these rules are still in flux. We have a pile of questions yet to answer internally (we’re having weekly meetings to do nothing but answer them), and we expect more will come from the community as time goes on. We expect this to happen! Our intention is for these guidelines to live in a subpage of the Guide to Organized Play, to allow them to be a living document we’ll update as time goes on.

Finally, we will not be able to answer every single question that comes up. Rules discrepancies and questions come up all the time at tables, and the Remaster will increase the odds of that happening. The GM always has the power to make calls on rules questions at the table. While we strive for the Pathfinder Society experience to play out the same at every table worldwide, we need to accept as a community that there will be some variance, and be patient with each other as we figure things out. This is a game, we’re here to have fun, let’s all keep that in mind as we play!

With all that out of the way, here are the current planned guidelines for Pathfinder Society and the Remaster. If you have questions/comments/concerns, drop them in the comments of this blog and we’ll do our best to answer them. Once the Remaster drops, we’ll create a separate thread in the Pathfinder Society forum for those specific rules interactions that we won’t discover until they come up in play.

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

---

Objectives

When considering the Pathfinder Remaster, our intent is as follows:

• To ensure that players are not forced to rebuild characters
• To ensure that as much previous material as feasible is still useable
• To incentivize adoption of the new, Remastered ruleset
• To provide an optional method to rebuild characters into Remaster rules

General Guidance

1. Game Rules
1. Players and GMs must use the remastered rules of the game immediately where possible.
1. Example: Recall Knowledge has been updated with additional guidelines. These take effect immediately at all PFS tables.
2. Example: The Refocus activity and the focus spell rules have been updated to be more intuitive. All characters immediately begin using these rules.
3. Example: Monster abilities such as Grab are no longer automatic, but allow a free skill check to attempt the action. GMs immediately begin using this new version of the rules.
2. Character Options
1. Beginning on November 15, 2023, no new characters may be created using the class chassis printed in the Core Rulebook if the class has been reprinted in the Player Core.
1. This affects the following classes: bard, cleric, druid, fighter, ranger, rogue, witch, wizard.
2. Characters with at least 1 game reported prior to November 15 may be built using the Core Rulebook chassis.
3. Previously-existing characters with at least 1 game reported may continue their progression using the Core Rulebook chassis. They may not use the chassis in the Player Core without rebuilding.
2. If a character option has been reprinted with the same name, use the new version as if it were errata. No additional retraining is necessary.
1. Example: divine lance has been reprinted with new Remaster-compatible rules. All PCs with divine lance must update the spell accordingly.
3. If a character option has not been reprinted, characters are free to use the option as previously printed, or to select it at any time.
1. Example: the brooch of shielding has not been reprinted. Characters may still purchase and use a brooch of shielding.
2. Example: the produce flame spell has not been reprinted, but ignition takes its place thematically. Characters may learn either spell anytime they would learn a new spell, and could learn both spells if they chose.
3. Example: the oracle class has not yet been remastered. Players may still build and play oracles using the rules in the Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide.

1. An oracle who learns divine lance must still use the remastered version of the spell.

Specific Rules

1. Alignment: Alignment has been removed from the game. PCs and NPCs no longer have alignment.
1. Edicts and Anathema: To replace certain aspects of alignment, edicts and anathema are being emphasized. These are voluntary and optional, though deities and classes may introduce specific edicts and anathema which are not optional.
2. Holy and Unholy: Many previously-aligned options now have either the holy, unholy, or sanctified traits. At a GM’s discretion, enemy abilities which previously had the good or evil traits may now have the holy or unholy trait.
1. Example: A quasit’s strikes previously had the evil trait. A GM may choose to give them the unholy trait, as quasits are demonic creatures. Similarly, a quasit’s weakness to good should now be considered a weakness to holy.
2. Wizards
1. Wizards built using the Core Rulebook chassis may continue to treat spells that had their spell school removed as part of the Remaster as if they have spell schools. They must otherwise fully update their remastered spells.
1. Example: An evocation wizard may still select electric arc as an evocation cantrip. They must use the new damage as printed in the Player Core.
2. Wizards built using the Core Rulebook chassis may learn new spells printed in remastered books, but they can never treat them as having a school spell if they did not previously have one.
3. Runelords
1. On November 15, 2023, the Runelord boon will be removed from the Achievement Points store. No new Runelords may be created after this date until/unless the archetype is reprinted.
3. Campaign-Specific Rules and Clarifications
1. Pathfinder Society characters may not be sanctified to unholy. This is the spiritual successor to the previous rule forbidding PCs of evil alignment.

Rebuilding

1. On November 15, 2023, all characters with at least one game reported are granted one free rebuild. This is a full rebuild; you may completely alter a character’s ancestry, class, background, and any options selected. You may not alter the adventures a character has participated in, nor may you alter a character’s Reputation earned.
2. Upon rebuilding, your character starts with gold equal to Table X.X[Alex note: this table will be published with the full rules, and is built on our baseline assumption of earning 8 TB per scenario].
1. Alternatively, a player character may sell any and all currently-held items at face value and purchase new items as normal.
3. If you use this rebuild, indicate “Remaster Rebuild” on your character’s most recent Chronicle Sheet.
4. If, in the course of this rebuild, you wish to refund any purchased boons, please email orgplayreportingerrors[at]paizo[dot]com with your character’s name, OP ID and character number, and the boon(s) you would like to refund.
5. This rebuild must be used before December 31, 2024. A second rebuild of this type will not be granted following the release of Player Core 2.

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One Final Change

While this isn’t a direct result of the Remaster, we’re taking the opportunity to make another change. Beginning on November 15, we will be removing the Pathfinder Training from the Guide to Organized Play. Your characters who are already Field Commissioned may still take bonus downtime, and we’re not going to take away the bonus Lores or feats your characters may have already gained. However, new characters may not use this system. Quite simply, it’s an extra layer of complexity that most players aren’t engaging with, and that doesn’t add much to the program.

However, we know everybody loves free items, so they will remain in the form of Pathfinder Provisions! We’ll have a pared-down list of consumables which all agents (including formerly Field Commissioned agents) may choose from at the start of a mission. By default agents will receive healing potions, though they may choose another item or items if they prefer. The Society wants to ensure its agents come home safe!

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

September’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and are presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a bestseller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

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Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

Combination Weapons Unleashed*

Leaping into battle using the recoil of their weaponry and carving down enemies with bullets and steel, Blitzfire Warriors are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. From the Gunpowder Combination Weapons of Alkenstar to the Transforming Combination Weapons of Ustalav, combination weapons take great skill to master. If you want to make the most of Combination Weapons in Pathfinder 2e to bring out their full, unrealized potential, Combination WeaponsUnleashed is for you!

Cooking Unleashed*

Across Golarion, various delicious cuisines and meals are made every day by chefs from different cultures and backgrounds. Some alchemists dedicate themselves to mixing the art of alchemy with the culinary arts to create delicious and potent treats! While halflings may have been some of the earliest trailblazers of this blend of alchemy and cooking, many others have adopted these techniques throughout the Inner Sea! If you wish to play a cook who can make use of potent alchemical foodstuffs or simply gain access to new options for alchemical food through feats and items, Cooking Unleashed is for you! 

Kitsune of Golarion*

Living clandestinely among Golarion's ancestries, kitsune make formidable foes and canny heroes. Kitsune of Golarion unlocks the full potential of this ancestry, detailing kitsune from every corner of the globe. An expansion on Lost Omens Ancestry Guide penned by the same authors who write the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

New Magic of Thassilon: A Reimagining of Sin and Virtue Magic

In the realm of Golarion, sin and virtue represent more than just morality—they can serve as a wellspring for potent magic and spellcraft, and have done so for thousands of years. Aspiring wizards, take up this mighty grimoire and venture into the world of rune magic!

New Magic of Thassilon presents seven schools of magic, each built around the sins and virtues held in Thassilonian culture and magical tradition. It reimagines the Runelord archetype, giving it an exciting new ability that allows wizards to apply buffs and benefits to their allies.It also includes items for wizards of all stripes to use, five new backgrounds to ground your character in the world of New Thassilon, and original lore and NPCs connected to the College of Sin and Virtue—a real place nestled in the hinterlands of New Thassilon.

The Voidbound Isle

The Voidbound Isle is an exploration-focused adventure that takes players from level 1-13 as they discover the secrets and mysteries of a vast, cursed island. This adventure is setting-agnostic; it can take place in Golarion or in your own original world. The bulk of its content involves exploration and wilderness survival as the party ventures throughout a strange and perilous new land, but this adventure also includes an optional city-management element, numerous side quests, and the overarching goal of uncovering the secrets of this curse-haunted isle and ultimately confronting the dark entity at its core.

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

Absalom Drift: Turbocharged

Every hero needs friends. And every group of friends needs a set of engines. How else will you race off to the edges of the galaxy, and save the day? Too bad you can’t afford them on your own.

But one of your old friends has picked up a lead on a starship that you just might be able to "acquire." What's the harm in hearing them out at least?

Absalom Drift: Turbocharged is a special starting adventure for Starfinderin which the heroes obtain their first ship through a starship heist, potentially leading them into either the Dead Suns or Drift Crashers Adventure Path.

Cotton Candy Crash Landing (Winner of Roll20 Design Dash, Pathfinder/Starfinder Infinite)

Cotton Candy Crash Landing is a short and sweet adventure pitting the Starfinders against a rogue blob of cotton candy headed straight for a helpless town!

In a well-meaning attempt at distributing the sweetest treat across the Pact Worlds, a group of skittermanders crashed their spaceship onto the planet Triaxus.

Fortunately, their NanoCotton Candy cargo cushioned their landing.

Unfortunately, that NanoCotton Candy mixed with the nearby saltwater air, creating a deadly plague of nanobots that coalesced into a giant blob that's headed straight for the city!

Creatures from the Drift

The Pact Worlds are full of myriad species, numerous planes of reality, and mystical forces. Perhaps the strangest is the Drift, the mysterious realm by which travel through the stars is possible. But the energies of the Drift are enigmatic, even to those who study it. And more peculiar, still, are those that dwell within…

Creatures from the Drift is a supplement for Starfinder players and GMs, introducing a vast array of new foes from the depths of the Drift. Ranging from Cybernetic Fae to Drift-warped animals, these beings are unlike anything seen in the Pact Worlds. Thankfully, there are also new Feats, Themes, and a plethora of Companion Pets to help you survive the mysterious entities from the Drift—including a whole new playable race!

Necromantic Conductor

This Starfinder companion presents a total conversion of the mechanic's drone class feature, turning it into a connection for the mystic class that enables them to raise an undead minion to accompany them.

In addition to rules for raising undead minions and customizing them using threnodies—a mystical counterpart to drone mods—this companion also includes an Undead Summoning Graft, for use with the summon creature spells from Alien Arch.

Space Cowboy’s Arsenal

A certain type of adventurer resides in the vast frontiers of space—wayfarers and drifters, hunters whose next meal rides on their cunning, their aim, and the price on their bounty's head. They carve out their existence beyond the fringes of civilization; the easy life is as alien to them as another man's gun, and just as fickle. They prefer the unpredictable and uncharted, far from prying eyes and folks what ask too many questions. Never tied to one place, these vagabonds stay strange and savvy, doing what they can to keep alive. When the galaxy needs a job done, they call for the rough and tumble Space Cowboy.

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New from Infinite Masters!

Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters—and some pieces that have caught their eyes!

• The 4724 AR Men of Golarion Calendar—An accurate 12-month calendar of the Golarion year, featuring 12 hand drawn illustrations of canonically male NPCs across Pathfinder Lore.
• The Traveler’s Guide to the Darklands—An exploration of the Darklands, including ancestries, heritages, archetypes, items, and more. All proceeds of this project benefit Owen K.C. Stephens’ cancer treatment.
• Heroes of Omen: Golarion Karotajs—This book introduces an homage to 3.x’s sohei to the Pathfinder Second Edition Roleplaying Game.
• Archetypes+ (FoundryVTT & Pathbuilder Support)—This massive supplement with Archetypes and Feats now has FoundryVTT and Pathbuilder support included for no extra charge!
• Novel Swarmicist—Become one with the swarm. A class archetype for the kineticist that adds three new gates: beasts, insects, and undead.

Illustration by Mylene Bertrand

By which, of course, I mean the spooky season, but also the new Pathfinder Adventure Path, Season of Ghosts! This is the first Adventure Path I’ve been the lead developer on from the very start since Age of Ashes, back when we were launching Second Edition Pathfinder. Since then, I’ve worked on hardcover compilations, written for other Adventure Paths, and developed ones that started with other folks who moved on to other opportunities. All of which was a lot of fun, of course, but it’s nice to be back in the proverbial saddle, creating outlines and plots from the start.

An Adventure Path set in the spookiest of all locations in the continent of Tian-Xia is something I’ve been eager to get moving for many years, and despite some schedule hiccups, I’m delighted the campaign is finally here for folks to enjoy. There’s quite a lot of plot twists and surprises in store for all of you destined to play through this campaign—I’m eager to hear how things went down at all of your game tables, but I also ask folks to make liberal use of the spoiler tag technology when speaking about these adventures, so we can all preserve those surprises for players to uncover as they progress through these four upcoming seasons of horror.

Illustration by Justine Nortjé

One of the most exciting parts of the process for me, though, was getting to work with such a wide range of amazing and talented writers! It’s been eye-opening, educational, and wonderful to see what the authors’ various adventures and support articles have brought to each volume of Season of Ghosts, bringing in an incredible range of inspiration from throughout Asia. So, for the next four months, I’ve invited the authors of Season of Ghosts to introduce themselves as the volumes they contributed to come out. In some cases, authors wrote for multiple volumes, while in others (like this first one), only a single author tackled the contents of the volume. So without further ado, take it away, Sen H.H.S.!

James Jacobs
Pathfinder Narrative Creative Director

Sen H.H.S.

Happy spookiness everyone! I'm Sen H.H.S., the writer of the first volume of Season of Ghosts, “The Summer that Never Was.” I welcome you all to your beloved town of Willowshore and the town's lovely inhabitants... along with the first three months (or more!) of fears, horrors, and thrills you are about to face. As someone who generally avoids ghost stories and the horror genre, writing this adventure was an interesting challenge, though one I gladly took on to help establish a baseline for how our PCs and the folks of Willowshore generally survive haunted Shenmen day-to-day. Now that those usual strategies don't work though, it's time to step up to the challenge. If you are interested in what I'm up to, you can follow me on Bluesky at senhhs.bsky.social or you can see what I'm retweeting on Twitter @SenHHS. For my past works, check out my website at https://senhhs.carrd.co/. Otherwise, I'll see you all in the upcoming Tian Xia books AND [falls into the NDA pit].

Illustration by Shafi Adams

Hi, this is Landon! As Halloween and the Remaster approaches, one question burns in our minds: who’s going to torch all these undead while simultaneously healing the entire party? As you can probably guess, that’s still going to be the party’s cleric, but let’s dive into some changes.

The cleric remains defined by their god, so before we get into the cleric, we should talk about the Remaster’s changes to deities and the cosmos. While the Remaster sees the removal of the nine alignments, edicts and anathemas still provide descriptions of a god’s desires and prohibitions to guide their followers’ behavior at a much finer level than alignment. But there’s still an endless struggle over the souls of the planes. The new system of divine sanctification (whether holy or unholy) represents a dedication to join that fight. Some gods now allow for sanctification—even when serving a goddess like Sarenrae who rose through the angelic ranks, joining her in the fight is ultimately a personal choice—where some gods now require that their clerics swear allegiance actively, like Asmodeus and Iomedae.

Alignment damage used to be a major tool here, but it sometimes got in the way of the cleric’s story. A cleric of Lamashtu might have dealt evil damage to scatter those standing up against the Mother of Monsters, but that often didn’t reflect the god’s will. Some gods were neutral, and all gods had enemies who opposed to their beliefs but weren’t of an opposite alignment. The Remaster’s new spirit damage type lets gods’ wrath manifest much more broadly, harming anything with a spirit, down to oozes that need to be scoured away. Clerics who undergo divine sanctification can infuse many of their spiritual abilities with holy or unholy power, so a divine lance cast by a holy character will still damage almost anyone, but it will also trigger the weaknesses of demons and devils. On the flip side of the coin, divine wrath excludes the allies who are helping a cleric do their god’s work, even if the alliance is a little peculiar.

Beyond these changes, we also took the opportunity to smooth out some rough edges. All clerics will see their divine font simply give them a number of bonus heal (or harm) spells regardless of their Charisma score, giving clerics a little more flexibility in how they allocate their attributes. The warpriest got improved weapon proficiencies where it could, raising martial weapons to expert at 7th level and their deity’s favored weapon to master at 19th. Along with Focus Point recovery becoming a bit easier for everyone in the Remaster, quite a few domain spells were improved or replaced, like pulse of civilization now giving wide access to the lore of nearby cities rather than one public fact and ignite ambition working as a reaction that the target notices only on a critical success.

A lot of the remastered classes have gotten a few new feats to help tell their stories better. Even with its changes, the cleric didn’t get left out on this front. As a powerful cleric, your god might protect you so dearly that they punish those who harm you, or you might reinforce your shield with the strength of your divine font. But there are also smaller miracles, like blessing the area around you to heal your allies out of combat or presenting your religious symbol to protect against the world’s varied hardships.

Raise Symbol [one-action] — Feat 4

Cleric
Requirements You are wielding a religious symbol.

You present your religious symbol emphatically. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to saving throws until the start of your next turn. While it’s raised, if you roll a success at a saving throw against a vitality or void effect, you get a critical success instead.

If the religious symbol you’re raising is a shield, such as with Emblazon Armaments, you gain the effects of Raise a Shield when you use this action and the effects of this action when you Raise a Shield.

Sacred Ground — Feat 4

Cleric, Consecration, Divine, Exploration
Prerequisites harmful font or healing font
Frequency once per 10 minutes

You pray continuously for 1 minute to call a subtle shadow of your deity’s realm over a 30-foot burst centered on you. It lasts for 10 minutes, and a creature that remains in the area for the entire 10 minutes regains Hit Points equal to your level.

If you have a healing font, this activity has the healing and vitality traits and heals living creatures. If you have a harmful font, this activity has the healing and void traits and heals undead creatures (or other creatures with void healing). Clerics with Versatile Font can choose either or both. It can’t damage creatures in any case.

Even my personal favorite cleric feat, Channeled Succor, spent some time in the fires of the Remaster to rise again as Restorative Channel, which interacts with the new, broader curative spells like cleanse affliction and clear mind. I’m stoked to have a new toolbox to channel all my new healing goodies. Especially with those spells all still helping when the counteract check doesn’t quite come through, it’s a good time to be freeing your friends from vexing conditions.

I hope you enjoy all these new options next month when Pathfinder Player Core is released. In the meantime, may your injured party be surrounded by a horde of low-level undead.

Cheers!

Landon Winkler (they/them)
Developer

Our first weekly adventure challenge awaits! This week, test your knowledge against the Core Rulebook. Complete the adventure for a chance to get a prize.

To participate simply click the following link: https://loremasters.com/pathfinder/play/multiplayer?data=4b510808-234d-4386-a5d7-f845d12068bf

For more information on this week's prize and where/when the winner will be announced please visit the Lore Masters blog: https://www.loremasters.com/news/

Good luck!

The Lore Masters Dev Team

Hello Pathfinders! Did you miss our Lost Omens Special stream this past Friday? Worry not—we’ve got all the reveals and surprises for you here on the Paizo blog!

Want to watch the stream for yourself? Catch the VOD on Youtube!

Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide

Coming Spring 2024, Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide details the many nations and cultures of Tian Xia. During our stream, we showcased three of these regions!

Minata

Illustration by Sammy Khalid

Eleanor gave us an overview of Minata—a nation with a wide diversity of cultures and heritages. Once ravaged by natural disasters and fighting, Minata now enjoys a time of peace and prosperity, protected by reefs said to be made of the bodies of dead dragons. Minata is known for its feasts, festivals, and celebrations.

Illustration by Paulo Magalhães

Seafaring is a vital part of Minatan culture—ingrained so deep because the first humans came to Tian Xia via Minata and then sailed further in. Because of Minata’s wide diversity of islands and accessibility by water, a variety of ancestries live here—including one as-yet-unannounced ancestry coming in the Character Guide.

Illustration by Riley Spalding

Valash Raj

Illustration by Sam White

Next, Luis took us into the Valashmai Jungle. This great forest was long thought to have no inhabitants save kaiju and monsters, but we can see that the Valash Raj civilization has flourished within these dangerous conditions.

Kaiju are still a big part of the Valashmai Jungle—so big, in fact, that there are whole cultural elements and occupations that relate to them. One such occupation is the kaiju caller, people who can communicate with the kaiju to direct them around settlements, helping communities co-exist.

Illustration by Nicholas Phillips

The Valash Raj is still a place of many dangers—not the least of which is “dinosaur season,” the time when all of the dinosaur eggs hatch and the new babies go hunting for food. But the people of the Valashmai Jungle have made lives for themselves out of the danger, and there is a rich world to explore there.

Illustration by Nicholas Phillips

Wanshou

Illustratiohn by Alberto Dal Lago

Our third region, special for this Friday the 13th stream, is Wanshou—an agricultural district with “nothing else going on,” or so says its leadership. Wanshou was devastated by over-taxation and flooding before it was brought back to prosperity by Zhanagorr, an elder kraken known throughout the land as Wanshou’s divine savior.

Illustration by Nicholas Phillips

Lots of the cultures and clothing of various Tian Xia regions take inspiration from real world cultures. James took some time to show off some of Kent Hamilton’s concept art for the denizens of Wanshou—showing a variety of headwear designed to keep citizens safe from the near-constant rains, inspired by real-world mino coats.

Concept art and notes for the region by Kent Hamilton.

One of many ways Zhanagorr maintains his grip on Wanshou is by careful manipulation of the ruling class, including the three noble houses given the honor of directly communing with him. As a result, political intrigue abounds, leading to the cultural role of a gift receiver—someone whose duty is to accept gifts (and the curses that may come with them) on behalf of the intended recipient, similar to a food taster.

Illustration by Gunship Revolution

Deities

Luis, Eleanor, and James each introduced one new deity from the Tian Xia World Guide.

Illustrations of Lady Nanbyo and Yamatsumi by Zach Causey, and Baekho by Carl Springer

The three deities chosen for this stream were Lady Nanbyo, Yamatsumi, and Baekho. Lady Nanbyo is the goddess of plagues, disasters, and bad luck. Yamatsumi is the god of mountains, volcanoes, and winter. Baekho is the god of harmony, mending rifts, and the transition between seasons.

The Tian Xia World Guide also includes new rituals. One such ritual, the trial of the unseeing blade master, was shown off during the stream. To fulfill the ritual, you must defeat 20 enemies while blindfolded, which then grants you the Blind-Fight feat.

Illustration by Carl Springer

Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide

Coming Summer 2024, the Pathfinder Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide adds a variety of character options to Pathfinder! We’re saving some of these reveals for later, as we get closer to the book’s release, but the team brought a couple of new options to the table!

Illustration by Paulo Magalhães

First, a heritage for poppets: tsukumogami! Tsukumogami are objects that are granted sentience and life due to being well cared for—or neglected and treated poorly. Their heritage abilities include giving a bonus to a skill that corresponds to the object you once were (for example, a kitchen knife tsukumogami granting a bonus to cooking), as well as sprouting a ghostly face to terrify newcomers. The team also talked about one feat from each of the currently announced ancestries: whether that’s the ability for samsarans to remember how to use the ancestral weapons of other people through their Samsaran Weapon Memory, wayangs’ ability to briefly become two-dimensional with Palm Leaf Silhouette, or tanuki’s Rolling White Bottle Form, which lets them transform into a wine bottle to roll away from harm before resuming tanuki form face-down on the ground.

Illustration by Sandra Posada

One of the new options for familiars in Tian Xia are paper familiars, with some sub-groups based on the various different paper dolls and paper crafts of the area, including shikigami familiars that can bear elemental seals or shadow puppets that can grasp objects by extending their shadows.

Pathfinder Lost Omens Divine Mysteries

After the Q&A, Luis Loza took the end of the stream to make a surprise reveal—the cover and title of the third Lost Omens book for 2024: PathfinderLost OmensDivine Mysteries.

Cover Illustration by Ekaterina Gordeeva

As part of this announcement, Luis confirmed that the book is tied into the War of Immortals event. While the deity who dies is still shrouded in mystery, Luis has revealed who will be taking their place—Arazni is joining the core twenty.

Divine Mysteries will update Gods and Magic to the remaster, giving sanctification information, remastered statblocks, and more lore to the existing deities, while also adding more divine content in the form of new gods and a few character options.

Concept art of Yivali by Kent Hamilto

The book is narrated by Yivali, a nosoi psychopomp of Pharasma. Divine Mysteries is essentially her graduate thesis, which she will present to Pharasma to become a full psychopomp.

We’re so excited for all that’s coming in 2024! We’ll have more to share about Tian Xia, Divine Mysteries, and more as time goes on.

Written by: Misha Bushyager, Jessica Catalan, Carlos Cisco, Rue Dickey, Aoife Ester, Ivis K. Flanagan, Tomas Gimenez Rioja, Leo Glass, Alastor Guzman, Thurston Hillman, Laura Lynn Horst, James Jacobs, Michelle Y. Kim, Monte Lin, Luis Loza, Stephanie Lundeen, Poorna M., Adam Ma, Jacob W. Michaels, Zac Moran, Jon Morgantini, Matt Morris, Morgan Nuncio, Daniel “Drakoniques” Oleh, Pam Punzalan, Jessica Redekop, Jaime Reyes Mondragon, Kevin Thien Vu Long Nguyen, Erin Roberts, quinn b. rodriguez, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Austin Taylor, Isis Wozniakowska, and Sebastian Yūe.

Original Gods & Magic writing and design by: Robert Adducci, Amirali Attar Olyaee, Calder CaDavid, James Case, Adam Daigle, Katina Davis, Leo Glass, Joshua Grinlinton, James Jacobs, Virginia Jordan, Jason Keeley, Jacky Leung, Lyz Liddell, Ron Lundeen, Stephanie Lundeen, Jacob W. Michaels, Matt Morris, Dave Nelson, Samantha Phelan, Jennifer Povey, Jessica Redekop, Nathan Reinecke, Patrick Renie, David N. Ross, Simone D. Sallè, Michael Sayre, David Schwartz, Shahreena Shahrani, Isabelle Thorne, Marc Thuot, Jason Tondro, and Diego Valdez.

The Lost Omens Tian Xia World Guide and Lost Omens Tian Xia Character Guide are available for pre-order now! Keep up to date with every Lost Omens release with a Paizo Subscription.

Hey there adventurers,
Today is the day, and we are excited to announce that Pathfinder Lore Masters is live on both iOS and Google Play stores!

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pathfinder-lore-masters/id1671004225

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.loremasters.pathfinder2e

The team has been working hard over the last year to bring you a great experience and to make the gameplay and content enjoyable and varied. We have been busy fine-tuning the little things like response time, visual improvements, and clearing out those pesky bugs. Finally, here we are, waiting for you to get hands on with it and to show us how well you know the rules and lore of Pathfinder!

If you aren't familiar yet with the core features of the Pathfinder Lore Masters trivia game, here's what to expect:

• Thousands of Pathfinder questions (lore and rules)
• Tailor your session towards a specific class, difficulty level, or book
• Easily share your match with friends and challenge their knowledge
• Play any challenge shared with you, even if you don't own the content
• Competitive gameplay through in-game leaderboards
• Customizable profile images and profile names
• Level progression and unlocks
• Pathfinder 2E Core Rulebook, Lost Omens World Guide, and Rage of Elements questions

Be on the lookout for our question of the week campaigns, new dev announcements regarding upcoming features, new question packs, and more, while we work to continue to bring new content and updates to you throughout the year.

All of your feedback matters, so please take the time to leave comments, write reviews, and suggest improvements. We can't wait to hear what everyone has to say and will be looking at feedback from everyone as we start working on the next updates and planning for new features.

Thanks all for the support and good luck on your perfect run. So to kick things off, here's an easy set of questions for you!

https://loremasters.com/pathfinder/play/multiplayer?data=3bb1c2a6-a946-4aea-b87b-afae0da795b2

Good Luck.

The Lore Masters Dev Team

Hello, Starfinders!

This month, we’re sending something spooky your way!
Travel to the fringes of the Pact Worlds system to explore two mysterious starships. First up is the Revelry, a massive luxury cruise liner that vanished during the Drift Crisis. Second is the Vigilance, a Starfinder Society vessel that discovered the Revelry amid frozen detritus on the very edge of the Pact Worlds system and set out to investigate. Communications with the Vigilance have gone silent, and a rescue mission has been sanctioned. Get out there, Starfinders! Fingers crossed that you make it out alive!

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-08: Lost Revelry is a horror adventure for 5th- through 8th-level characters written by Mikko Kallio.

Left to right: illustrations by Ernst Eskelsen and Fabio Di Bernardi

Meanwhile, a potential Starfinder Society ally, the scrappy ysoki Ongie, has been spotted on the planet Vesk-7. Ongie possesses intel on the mysterious Organization, a secretive and dangerous criminal syndicate that the Starfinders are working to oppose. Ongie’s intel could give the Starfinders the edge they need to turn the tables on the Organization—if they can convince her to help. Unfortunately, Organization assassins have been hot on Ongie’s trail since she faked her death and escaped their clutches on Kortus IV. If you don’t act fast, Ongie and the information she possesses will be lost forever. No pressure!

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-09: Ridgerock Rescue is a metaplot adventure for 1st- through 4th-level characters written by Charlie Brooks.

Best of luck, Starfinders!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

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Hello, Pathfinders, and welcome to the spookiest time of the year!

To herald in our thrills and chills season, we see the return of our old ghoul friend, Marcon Tinol! He comes to the Pathfinder Society in desperation, looking for assistance with what seems to be an invasion from unknown forces into his home among the Azlanti islands. Traveling through the Maze of the Open Road leads the Society to the Island of the Vibrant Dead, a burial island for important Arodenite clergy and, more importantly, the home of Deadhaven, a community of ghouls looking to live apart from the living. Teaming up with the lacedon Barnacle Barnaby, the Pathfinders will meet a diverse collection of ghouls and research the mysterious Ghessa, who seems to not be taking part in the Feast of the Vibrant Dead…

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-05: The Island of the Vibrant Dead is a metaplot adventure for 3rd- through 6th-level characters written by Joe Blomquist.

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Illustration by Alecksander Ribeiro

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders! This month’s new releases expand your Starfinder horizons, dig up evils from long past, and save your home from an isolating curse.

Keep an eye out as we shift our release dates back in the coming months to accommodate the winter holidays! While our physical releases drop today, our digital-only products such as Organized Play Scenarios will release next Wednesday, October 25.

Never miss a release with our Paizo Subscriptions – for everything from rulebooks to accessories.

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Starfinder Enhanced

UPGRADE YOUR GAME!

Enhance your Starfinder experience with this invaluable game resource covering all aspects of the Starfinder rules! From totally revised fundamentals like core classes and starship combat to brand-new systems for expanding the way you play, this 192-page hardcover rules resource offers fresh ideas while still blending with the existing system. With Starfinder Enhanced at hand, you’ll be ready for the countless challenges of infinite space!

Pathfinder Adventure: Rusthenge

FEAR IN A HANDFUL OF RUST

The ruins of Rusthenge have stood silent and mysterious for eons, dating back to the era of the runelords of ancient Thassilon. Now that New Thassilon has risen from the depths of the past, something below Rusthenge’s strange metallic ruins has begun to stir—and that bodes ill for the nearby village of Iron Harbor. What deadly legacy lies hidden within the unknown ruins below Rusthenge, and can it be stopped before a new evil is unleashed upon the land? Pathfinder Adventure: Rusthenge is a standalone adventure for 1st- to 3rd-level characters that includes a selection of new magic items, character backgrounds, and monsters for any Pathfinder campaign.

Pathfinder Adventure Path #196:The Summer That Never Was (Season of Ghosts 1 of 4)

A HOMETOWN HAUNTING

Your hometown of Willowshore has always observed the final days of spring with a festival known as the Season of Ghosts—a celebration of life that honors and placates the region’s many spirits. This year, something goes horribly wrong, and when you awake in the woods alone after a night of festivities, you find that your hometown is in dire need of heroes! The Season of Ghosts Adventure Path begins with “The Summer That Never Was,” a complete adventure for 1st- to 3rd-level characters.

Pathfinder Lost Omens Travel Guide Special Edition

YOUR JOURNEY BEGINS!

Don’t let the best of Golarion pass you by! This handy book presents the highlights of the Inner Sea region to help curious travelers plan where to go and what to see. Gain local insights into the most extravagant festivals, the greatest hits of a storied theater scene, and the delicacies of fine restaurants. Discover notable athletes featured in upcoming sports competitions or the latest trends in fashion essential for dazzling onlookers at balls. Explore the vast, rich variety the Inner Sea has to offer!

The Pathfinder Lost Omens Travel Guide is now available in deluxe special edition, bound in faux leather with metallic debossing and a bound in ribbon bookmark.

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-08: Lost Revelry

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 5th- through 8th-level characters.

At the outset of the Drift Crisis, many ships were thought lost forever. Among them was an enormous recreational vessel, the Revelry, with thousands aboard. As the Drift Crisis recently came to an end and the Drift stabilized, the ship fell out of the Drift, and briefly transmitted a garbled signal before suddenly falling silent. Now it floats among icy bodies beyond the fringes of the Pact Worlds system.

It was the Starfinders who first heard and reacted to the signal. The Vigilance, an Exo-Guardian vessel, went to investigate. Neither ship nor crew has reported back since their arrival on site, save for one incredibly garbled message. Ixthia the Unbreakable tasks the PCs with unraveling this mystery. They must journey to the now-silent Vigilance and Revelry, where they will discover that the latter's name is now a supreme irony, and—at the center of it all—a cold malevolence that seeks to spread its despair through the Pact Worlds and beyond.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-05: The Island of the Vibrant Dead

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.

During routine study on the Maze of the Open Road, a lecture is interrupted by the old Pathfinder ghoul ally, Marcon Tinol. Through discussions with him, the Society learns that he and Drandle Dreng established an island haven in Azlant for ghouls wishing to live apart from humans—the Island of the Vibrant Dead. Marcon reports that a strange new ghoul named Ghessa has arrived on the island but her story about her death and undeath isn't adding up, and he fears that she may be up to something sinister. The PCs must travel to the island, where the residents maintain a ghoulish existence celebrating their undeath, and dig into Ghessa's story and her trips into the vaults of the long-dead Arodenite priesthood.

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-09: Ridgerock Rescue

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.

For the past year, the Starfinder Society has been searching for Ongie, a ysoki engineer on the run from the corporate overlords that have ruled Ongie’s hometown of Braerton for nearly a century: the Mongers. The Starfinder Society has recently come to suspect that the Mongers are the same group that they’ve been hunting all year—the mysterious Organization. If this is true, it’s likely that Braerton has an important role to play in Project Dawn, an ongoing plan enacted by the Organization that will result in the death of millions if they’re not stopped. Finding Ongie has become a matter of life and death.

Unfortunately, the Starfinders aren’t the only ones hot on Ongie’s trail. Organization assassins have been after Ongie since her escape from Braerton three years ago, and now they’ve finally cornered her on Vesk-7. If the Starfinders don’t act fast, Ongie and all the information she possesses will slip through their fingers.

Browse all of our Foundry VTT products here, including the new volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path #196:The Summer That Never Was (Season of Ghosts 1 of 4). And don’t forget about our new Organized Play Scenario Season Passes, which give Organized Play scenarios the same deluxe treatment as our adventure paths!

From Our Partners:

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20 are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API—or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

Bring Pathfinder to where you are, in person or online, and if you don’t have a favorite local game store, get books delivered to your door via a Paizo Subscription! From rulebooks to adventures, accessories, and more, we’ve got subscriptions for every table! Subscribing to a line of books gets you the physical book and the PDF for one price! Subscribe to four lines or more to unlock Paizo Advantage savings on products site-wide!

Need some sound to spice up your table? Our partners at Syrinscape have a collection of Pathfinder and Starfinder soundtracks for your home game, streamed games, and more. New this month—Haunted Manor!

Thank you for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

It’s that time of year where company presidents look into the future, comparing what it costs to produce and create game products today versus what it did last year–and how those costs will change in the year to come. No one likes to raise prices, but doing so is a necessity. Paizo is not immune to economic factors like inflation, nor industry-wide fluctuations in cost-of-goods, labor, or shipping and logistics, and we must periodically adjust our prices to reflect rising costs. Let’s break things down.

Bounties, Quests, and Scenarios (PDF)

Bounties and Quests are standalone short digital adventures, usually designed to be played for up to 2 hours. We’ll be increasing the price of these from $4.99 to $5.99.

Society scenarios are adventures suitable for a single gaming session of around 4-5 hours. Many are part of an overarching theme for a particular year, so it’s possible to weave an entire campaign out of these scenarios one session at a time. Currently, scenarios are priced at $5.99 for “regular” scenarios and $7.99 for higher-level scenarios, which are generally longer and take longer to develop and edit. Very soon, we will standardize the price for ALL Society scenarios (regardless of level) to $8.99. Special “interactive” scenarios will increase from $14.99 to $19.99.

These price changes will be retroactive for all previously released products as of October 25th. If you have some gaps in your collection going back to the very beginning of Pathfinder Society in 2007, you may wish to backfill your collection before these new prices go into effect.

Other PDF Products

We don’t plan any other PDF price changes beyond what we announced last year.

Price Changes

We will be increasing prices on accessories, softcover, and hardcover books. The amount of this increase varies by product type, but here are some examples.

• Flip-Mats: $19.99 (+$3)
• Flip-Mat Multi-Pack: $29.99 (+$5)
• 96-page Adventure Paths: $29.99 (+$3)
• Pocket Editions will range in price from $26.99 to $34.99 based on page count.
• Hardcover prices will vary in price based on page count. That might seem obvious, but it’s a change from us keeping MSRP the same across wide page counts. Here are a couple of baseline examples.
  • 128-page: $44.99
  • 192-page: $59.99
  • 256-page: $69.99
  • 304-page plus map: $79.99
  • Special Edition covers add an additional $20 to the retail price.

You’ll see the above price changes reflected in products that begin releasing in April of 2024, as well as reprints of older products.

Holding the Line on the Core

Contrary to what I’ve outlined above, we’ll keep the price of the hardcover Core books (Player Core, GM Core, Monster Core, and Player Core 2) at $59.99 through at least the first printing. We feel these books are essential first purchases for Pathfinder players and want to hold the line on price increases as long as possible to reduce the barrier of entry for new players.

Paizo and the Environment

For years, Paizo has printed our products using ecologically friendly soy-based ink rather than petroleum or other vegetable-based inks. Soy ink results in richer and more vibrant colors that require less ink on every page. We’ll definitely keep soy inks in Paizo products, but I wanted you to know about it, since it’s not something we’ve made a big deal about or discussed in the past.

What is new is that we’re changing to FSC-certified paper. This means that the paper Paizo uses will come from ecologically sourced forests that prohibit deforestation (replacing the trees they harvest with new growth), require biodiversity and old forests to be protected, protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and ensure that Paizo has a sustainable source of paper for many years to come. To learn about the Forest Stewardship Council or delve into the certification process visit their website.

Paizo is not switching to recycled paper, which is significantly more expensive and has a vastly different look and feel. FSC paper is a mix of new and recycled paper, and you won’t be able to tell the difference between new products and old ones without looking for the FSC label.

We’re making changes in shipping supplies as well. We’ve switched to using starch peanuts and air pockets in store shipments. We’re also phasing out the use of foam packing corners (for cardboard ones) and have switched all of consumer box packaging from U-Line to Alliance Packaging, who use an average of 50% recycled paper in their boxes. Your products will continue to be shipped as safely and securely as we can make them, only with more thought put into the environmental and social impacts of what we do.

Thanks again for supporting Paizo!

Jim Butler
President

When every individual action counts, you enter the encounter mode of play. In this mode, time is divided into rounds, each of which is 6 seconds of time in the game world. Every round, each participant takes a turn in an established order. During your turn, you can use actions, and depending on the details of the encounter, you might have the opportunity to use reactions and free actions on your own turn and on others’ turns. — Player Core

Illustration by Brian Valeza

Of Pathfinder’s three modes of play, encounter mode is the most highly structured and often used for combat or other stressful situations. Basic encounter rules assume that they are being used in combat, but for social scenarios or other situations, you might adjust the basic structure to use longer rounds or different actions.

Encounter mode follows this basic structure:

1. Roll initiative. When the GM calls for an initiative roll, make a roll to determine your place in the initiative order—the sequence in which all participants take their turns. Usually, this roll is Perception, but in some cases your GM might call for Stealth, Diplomacy, or other skills for initiative.
2. Play a round. Beginning with the highest initiative roll, all participants take a turn in order. Certain free actions and reactions might also let a character act outside of their turn.
3. Begin the next round. Once each participant has taken a turn, the round is over and the next begins, proceeding in the same order. Repeat this cycle until the encounter ends.
4. End the encounter. Encounters can end when the foe is defeated, a truce is reached, or some other event ends combat. At this point, the initiative order is dropped and participants can act in a more free-form manner. GMs will often award Experience Points or treasure to the party for successfully overcoming the encounter.

Turn Structure

When your turn comes around in the initiative order, you have three actions to use. These can be spent on single actions, or you might spend two or three actions at once for short activities. You also have a reaction, which you can use when a given trigger occurs (even if it’s not your turn), and free actions (which cost no actions to use).

1. Start your turn. Some things happen automatically at the start of your turn, such as reducing the number of turns remaining on an effect or making recovery checks. Do these “at the start of your turn” tasks in any order, then regain your 3 actions and 1 reaction.
2. You can use actions in any order, but you must complete one action or activity before beginning another. Once you have spent all three actions, your turn is over—or you can choose to end your turn early and lose your remaining actions. You cannot split a two- or three-action activity between turns.
3. End your turn. After your actions are completed, you can take the “end of your turn” steps in any order you choose. These steps could include ending spells that you chose not to sustain, taking persistent damage, and attempting saving throws for existing conditions.

Some combat encounters in unusual settings might require additional rules—Pathfinder Player Core also includes guidance for aerial combat, mounted combat, aquatic combat, and more.

Outside of encounter mode, a GM might transition the party into exploration mode or downtime—which we’re excited to cover in blogs to come!

Pre-order the remastered Pathfinder Player Core and Pathfinder GM Core today, or ask your FLGS about our hobby retailer exclusive Sketch Covers!

It's October, and you know what that means—the leaves are falling, pumpkin spice floats on the wind, and the scourge known as candy corn is appearing on store shelves, and so I, James, am here to put on my pointy hat and talk about all things witchy coming in the Remaster!

Feiya the iconic witch and her familiar Daji. Art by Wayne Reynolds.

As we've mentioned in some of our past material, the witch was a class we were excited to put into the first book of the remaster, the Player Core. The witch is a really iconic fantasy theme with a ton of historical and cultural grounding, and a popular player archetype for many characters. Unfortunately, we were also aware that the witch class has not quite always done the best at living up to this fantasy. The Remaster sees the witch as one of the most heavily changed classes, in ways that aim both to increase the class’s overall power budget as well as to express the witch’s unique flavor in an evocative way.

In Pathfinder, the witch’s defining feature is their relationship with their familiar and their patron—the witch does not get power from study, or from inherent gifts, but as part of a bargain made with a mysterious patron entity, with a magical familiar there to both provide power and make sure the witch is advancing the patron’s agenda. To highlight the fact that the witch is the premier familiar user in the game, we’ve increased the capabilities of their familiar from its original version. Now, the witch’s familiar gains even more abilities, one of which is wholly unique to the patron. These unique familiar abilities both help to express the patron’s theme, and they generate a passive effect every time the witch Casts or Sustains one of their hex cantrips. For example, a familiar granted by the Silence in Snow patron is forever cold to the touch—it might be the color of ice or its breath might crystallize in the air—and so every time you cast your sustain one of your hex spells, frost will form next to your familiar, creating difficult terrain. Many of these abilities are strong, but have very short ranges from your familiar, so be sure to keep your little shadow cat or curséd raven safe with spells like phase familiar or patron’s puppet, which can help to shield them from damage or let them dart quickly in and out of safety.

We’ve taken advantage of the Remaster to also do some general quality of life changes to the witch and make their abilities a little easier to use. Many hex cantrips now no longer make enemies temporarily immune to their effects once cast, as we felt that having to sustain them and having the limit of 1 hex cantrip per turn (it turns out, your patron doesn't like being pestered for supernatural favors three times in a six-second window) was already enough of a limit for most abilities. We also expanded some hex cantrips that were overly narrow, like wilding word, which used to function only against animals, fungi, or plants, but now function against any creature, with animals, fungi, and plants being especially vulnerable to its effects. Between loosening these restrictions and the unique abilities from familiars that happen when you Cast or Sustain a hex cantrip, the witch should be seeing a fair bit of hexing during their turns.

But of course, as your witch grows in power, so too can your familiar, which can gain various special abilities through higher-level feats. Some of these feats let your patron themself manifest through your familiar, to spooky effect. For instance, the new Patron’s Presence feat directs your patron's baleful attention to the battlefield, partially disrupting the magic of other spellcasters.

Patron’s Presence — Feat 14
Witch

Your patron can direct its attention through your familiar, and its mere presence becomes an ominous weight on the minds of other beings to distract them and blot out their magic. Your familiar gains the following activity.

Patron’s Presence [two-actions] (aura) Frequency once per hour; Effect A palpable weight extends from your familiar in a 15-foot emanation. Enemies who enter or start their turn within the aura must succeed at a Will save against your spell DC or become stupefied 2 as long as they remain within the aura, or stupefied 3 on a critical failure. The aura lasts until the end of your next turn, but the familiar can Sustain it up to 1 minute.

Beyond some of these feats that lean on the Pathfinder side of witch mythology, we also wanted to go back to the rich folklore of witches worldwide and draw on this when we were giving witches new feats—and they’re getting quite a fair number of them! It would be remiss of me not to call out my very witchy colleagues Simone D. Sallé and Shay Snow, who drew on their deep knowledge of folk magic to suggest the seeds that grew into abilities like Ceremonial Knife, which allows a knife or dagger to direct magical energies like a magic wand; the new iron teeth Witch’s Armaments (supplementing eldritch nails and living hair); or Witch’s Broom, which lets you anoint a broom with flying ointments to transform it into a flying broomstick that you can ride through the night sky (this also works with a staff, polearm, or other broom-like object—not saying there are vacuum cleaners in Golarion, but I am saying the book gives you what you need to live your best Mary Sanderson life).

And with that, I think it's time for me to get into my Witch’s Hut and use its new Leap option to spin thrice and cast a 10^th-rank teleport away! Be careful not to get cursed out there, and keep your eyes of newt on this space for more Remaster news!

The shadow remains cast,

James Case (he / him)
Senior Designer

Hello, Pathfinders!
We have a special treat this week, as good old Drandle Dreng stopped by the Grand Lodge and an interesting flier slipped out of his pocket while he was chatting with some of the newer recruits. Let’s lean in together and see what it says, hm?

Welcome to Deadhaven!

This undead island paradise is blessed by our own beloved Pallid Princess and kissed by the waves of the Arcadian Ocean!

Come and experience our once-in-a-death experiences!

Ride the Ghoulship Rapscallion!
Experience fine, classical Chelaxian dining at Bone Appetite!
Dance your skin off during the Celebration of the Vibrant Dead!
Take part in the Feast of the Faithful!
Tour the Deadend Village!
Get caught up in our Parade of the Undead!
Grab a drink at the Dead Ringer!

To experience a little bit of Deadhaven right in your own home, Lord Walsam Calendrieu has graciously included two of his world-famous Dead on Demand cocktails! Below you’ll find his personal favorite, the Patella Colada, as well as his boyfriend’s favorite, the Necromintsy Julep.

Patella Colada

A fine cocktail invented by Lord Walsam himself and never before shared across Golarion.

1 ounce Fine Azlanti Rum
1 and 1/2 ounces pineapple juice
1/2 coconut cream (fresh cracked!)

Fill your preferred shaker with ice cubes from your icebox. Add your rum, pineapple juice, and coconut cream and shake vigorously! (Don’t lose your arm!) Then strain the concoction into a lovely classic Taldan highball glass and garnish it with chunks of fresh pineapple!

If you can’t find the correct rum (or, Urgathoa forbid, if you don’t care for rum), simply replace the rum with more pineapple juice! Pineapples from Xopatl would be best, but your local strain will do just fine.

Necromintsy Julep

My beloved’s favorite drink from his time living in Absalom. What a city!

8 Absalomian mint leaves
1 sprig of Absalomian mint
2 ounces Fine Andoran Bourbon
1/4 ounce simple syrup

In a Petals cup or a rocks glass, lightly muddle the mint leaves and simple syrup before adding the bourbon. Finely crush your ice cubes from your icebox and tightly pack the glass. Stir until the cup is frosty on the outside, then top it with more crushed ice to form a dome (like that skull of yours)! Lastly, garnish the drink with your sprig of mint.

If you cannot use Andoran Bourbon, or if you simply wish for a less tipsy time, replace the bourbon with ginger beer!

Illustrations by Alecksander Ribeiro

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Hey folks, Michael Sayre here again.
Thanks for an exciting playtest of the animist and exemplar classes! We had a ton of responses that we’re busy sifting through as we open these classes back up and start delving into what their futures might hold. We’re busy keeping the Remaster ball rolling right now, so we’re going to be pretty brief on the feedback here, but we can give you some insights into what we’ll be looking to refine and what the future might hold.

Illustrations by Wayne Reynolds

The Animist

The animist feedback has been very interesting. Most of you rated it as being moderately complicated, but there was also overwhelming support for almost all the major class features (apparitions, spellcasting, and vessel spells in particular). As such, we’re likely to keep the main chassis with a few targeted areas of improvement. Here’s what we might be changing and what might be staying the same.

• Practices: Folks have generally liked all the other individual pieces of the animist but noted that it’s very complicated. Practices are one area where I think we might be able to trim out some unnecessary complexity and tighten up the chassis. There are a couple directions we might go here, but the one I’m currently eyeing most closely is removing the practices entirely, standardizing the proficiency progression of the class, and replacing practices with invocations—unique prayers that speak to how each individual animist communes with their apparitions. This could likely be a place where a refined version of Apparition’s Possession and Apparition’s Whirl would live. It might also be the new home for Sustaining Dance; this would move it to an even more class-specific resource that is part of the main chassis instead of a feat. I’d likely be looking at introducing a few entirely new invocations here as well to speak to other types of personalized rites and prayers.


• Vessel Spells: Triple-casting the same vessel spell is something a lot of you noted as leading to degenerative play loops, and that was frankly something we’d always intended to put tighter limitations on. For the final version, we’re looking at putting some stricter limitations in place so that animists who focus on a single apparition are more heavily encouraged to use their spell slots and animists who change rapidly between different apparitions are more strongly encouraged to use a variety of vessel spells.


• Spellcasting: The animist’s spellcasting, which was a split between prepared spellcasting and spontaneous casting of apparition spells, was extremely popular with a super-majority of players. We’re likely to keep this as close to its current form as we can. I think there are a few places we can probably smooth things out to make it easier for folks to grok how the spellcasting actually works, but given the popularity of the progression itself I suspect we’ll focus on refinements here rather than big changes.


• Apparitions: We’re likely to significantly expand the number of apparitions compared to those that appeared in the playtest. We were very focused on testing out specific functions in this space to make sure all the foundational pieces worked well; now we’ll be refining the ones from the playtest and bringing in all kinds of new spirits for a variety of different themes and environments. (There’s a Lurker in Crushing Dark apparition that’s been on my idea board for a while now that I think is a shoo-in for folks who want either a deep-sea predator vibe or a Dark Tapestry association, and a crafting-oriented apparition I’m tinkering with that may or may not fit this space quite right… We’ll have to see!)

Those are the major areas of potential change I see us working on for the animist as we go forward. We’re still working our way through some of the more nuanced pieces of your feedback, though, so nothing is set in stone quite yet! Now I’m going to kick it over to James Case to talk about the exemplar.

The Exemplar

Hi everyone, James here. Let's talk about the exemplar! As always, the goal of the playtest exemplar was to test a number of mechanics in service of a strong final draft, rather than ensuring everything in the playtest was perfectly balanced. Many of you found the core mechanic of moving your divine spark—the focus of your power—into various sacred ikons to gain different effects to be fun and a fresh take on a martial character, so let’s dig in a bit deeper.

• Rarity and Tone: The exemplar has a pretty bombastic tone drawn from larger-than-life folklore and mythology. This seemed to be a big selling point in favor of the class! A few people noted that this tone means the exemplar might not fit into every campaign, though. This is intentional! We’re aware that tonally and narratively, the exemplar might not be for every single campaign, and therefore it’s pretty likely it will be staying with its current rarity to signal to GMs and players alike that this class would benefit from a brief check-in to see how it fits into the story—whether that's as one PC in a party of other classes, or in an all-exemplar party. (Now I’m thinking of the Golarion version of the Argonauts.)


• Power Spikes: To go with this bombastic tone, the exemplar was intended to have a pretty dynamic combat loop, with their defenses and offenses fluctuating to make for high highs and low lows. While the idea of dynamically changing your focus between offense and defense was very popular, we also think that we might want to ensure this isn't too swingy, so we will be stabilizing a little bit of the exemplar’s power. We're looking at increasing their defenses a tad and giving them a wider range of abilities for each of their ikon types, ensuring that you have less of a “downturn” between your Big Transcendent Weapon Moves (which, let's be honest, was what you were trying to use anyway), as well as a slightly wider range of useful supplementary abilities that you get all the time, not just when an ikon has your spark in it.


• Domain Spells: Domain spells are in an odd place—people thought they were useful, but also that they were a little boring, which makes sense since these are shared with other classes. The exemplar already has a lot to track with its spark placement and is primarily a martial character, so we’d rather lean into this as their main gameplay hook and will be removing domain spells from the exemplar in the final version of the class. However, the theme of “gaining a domain for yourself” was a popular one, so like our approach with the thaumaturge and its pact feats in Dark Archive, we will be moving this theme to an archetype later in the book that thematically aligns with the exemplar’s whole “reach into the heavens and seize godhood” thing in a very natural way.


• Epithet Recasting: A lot of you seemed to like using epithets to shape your character's story, and in fact, many people wanted these to be an even bigger part of the class. With the removal of spells, we have a little room to play here with the epithets—I have a couple of ways I'm thinking about going with it, and I don't know quite which one it's going to be yet, but I think it's a fun idea!


• MORE MORE MORE: Yes, there will be more. We know that there was not the widest selection of ikon types for the playtest, because we were looking at testing out the basic primary colors—major categories of weapon, for example—but with everyone’s feedback from the playtest, we can look at some more shades, like ikon types that are a bit more niche. Yes, there will be unarmed attack exemplars in final (however would I do my Bull of Heaven exemplar without it?), and yes, there will be a greater variety of ikon and epithet choices (however would I do my Demeter “the turbulent pinwheel of the seasons’ change” exemplar without it?) as well.

Thank you for coming along for the ride and for all your feedback! There was a lot to test with the exemplar, but with everyone's responses, we're in a good place to move forward with polishing the class up. I'll pass things back to Mike for some final notes!

And Mike takes the mic for the final thoughts!

The TLDR on this one is that it was a great playtest with a lot of positive responses and a lot of useful feedback to get these things refined. These were some of the highest-scoring classes we’ve put out as far as overall satisfaction ratings go, and we’re really pleased that so many of you were excited about these ideas and so eager to share your thoughts and experiences. Take care all, and we’ll see you next October when these classes take up arms to defend Golarion during the War of Immortals!

Michael Sayre
Design Manager

James Case
Senior Designer

Yoon’s target lay broken in the soot in front of her. She felt the air enter her lungs, but she didn’t pay it any heed, only the energy it held. The breath circulated through the young kineticist’s veins, coursing through her organs and flickering with the faintest traces of elemental power as it passed through each—at least, until it reached her heart and the gate within it. The energy ignited within Yoon, blazing as her body briefly became one with the Plane of Fire itself. Yoon’s eyes danced with embers as she set them on her target, thrusting her fist forward in a practiced stance and letting her breath out with a shout.

The log was no match, and it burst into flames.

“Do it again! Do it again!” Behind Yoon, the twins jumped up and down. Yoon smiled. The girls were growing up, and though they weren't quite as big as those two oni that Yoon had fought on the outskirts of Tsukiwa, they were about as relentless.

“OK, just one more,” Yoon drew her arms back, sweeping one leg in an exaggerated spiral she’d learned from a dancer at a roadside tavern (though she edited this part out for the twins’ young ears). “What should your eonni call this one?” Flames began to gather at her fingertips. Kyung-ja and Kyung-ok opened their mouths excitedly, but—

“Yoon! Ease up on the stove!” Yoon’s aunt turned around from where she was chopping vegetables. “Any more and we’ll burn our bottoms when we sit down to eat!”

Groans of disappointment came from the twins, deprived of their chance to see another of their cousin’s moves in action. “But dinner’s almost ready. Why don’t you three set the table?” The groans turned to cheers as food made its way out of the oven and delicious smells spilled forth.

---

“So there I was, the Gunpowder Gang all around me! They'd been skulking around the outskirts of Okim for weeks, and they had made off with the latest shipment of firearms. We tracked them to the edge of the forest, but they were holed up in a fort that was covered in giant spiked walls and surrounded by explosive mines. The rest of my team was stuck picking their way through the traps, but they couldn't keep out Yoon! I gathered my flames below me and blasted into the air—you know, your eonni can fly, sometimes.” She winked at the twins, whose mouths were hanging open so wide that a bean sprout fell out onto Kyung-ja’s plate.

Yoon defeats the Gunpowder Gang (Yoon’s version of events). Illustration by Yanis Cardin.

Yoon took a spoonful of piping hot stew from the table, putting it over her rice, before shifting a bit to pull her leg off the floor and onto a cushion. She hated to admit it, but her aunt had been right, she really had gone a little overboard with the stove that was now merrily warming the floors. “I landed in the middle of more hobgoblins than you’ve ever seen! They were all around me, so Gom-Gom came out to help.”

“Gom-Gom... came out?” Kyung-ok looked at the ragged stuffed animal attached to the side Yoon’s bag.

“Yeah, like this! I needed the backup,” Yoon waved her hand, conjuring flames in the shape of her beloved stuffed toy. The flame jumped from her hand to land on the table, where he struck a fighting pose.

Yoon’s uncle coughed once as he poured Yoon a glass of clear spirits. “Yoon, Gom-Gom’s melting the ice, and I’d hate to drink this expensive liquor at room temperature after you brought it all the way here.”

“Ah, sorry, Imobu.” Yoon nodded as she took the glass, turned away from the table, and drank it down. She turned back to the twins. “Anyway, there we were, just me and Gom-Gom. He watched my back, breathing out fire like PWOOSH, PWOOSH!” Yoon blew air in her little cousins’ faces. “I faced forward and saw the Gunpowder Gang’s leader, a hobgoblin who was six—no, seven—feet tall, holding a bomb in either hand. Do you know what I did?”

Yoon’s aunt wiped at Kyung-ja’s mouth, “Did you shoot the bombs in his—”

“I shot the bombs in his hands! They blew him backwards into the wall, putting him down for the count! But his lackeys were spilling out, running around and trying to arm their cannons. Gom-Gom and I leapt into the air as they fired and the cannonballs exploded around the fort, and then I reached into the Plane of Fire, pulling out as much flame as I could. Then—what should I call this one?”

“Super-duper Phoenix Detonation!”
“Million Billion Shooting Stars!”
“Gom-Gom Blaze Crusher!”

“Solar Flames in a Swirling Sphere!”

“Eonni Blows Up the World!”

Yoon chuckled. “Let’s go with Solar Detonation.” She continued the story of her overwhelming victory, while her aunt rolled her eyes, her uncle laughed, and warmth filled the house.

---

The twins yawned as Yoon drew the covers up. “Do you really have to go in the morning?” Kyung-ja asked.

Yoon ruffled her cousin’s hair. “I promised old man Lim that I’d help guard his caravan on the way to Haseong. Not everyone’s as invincible as me, you know, so I gotta help look out. But I'll be back before the seasons change.” Kyung-ok opened her mouth to protest. “Before I go, what colors do you two want?”

The protest turned to excitement. “Blue!”

“Purple!”

“Blue and purple, coming right up.” Yoon reached inwards, and with the slightest of breaths pulled two sparks forth, one in either hand. With the gentlest of motions, she spun them, one into a soft blue flicker and the other into a warm purple glow, and she set the two spheres above each mattress, dimming them as she did so. It took a little bit of her power, but Yoon had more than enough to spare on two nightlights for the important task of watching over her cousins while she was away.

“Be good now, the lights will know if you're naughty, and then I won't bring you a present back from the city.” The nightlights had no such power, but the girls didn't know that. The twins nodded vigorously, and soon were off to sleep.

Yoon shut the door and went back to the dining table. The morning would bring more journeys and battles, but for tonight, she could go for another drink with her uncle and another bite of her aunt's stew.

James Case (he / him)
Senior Designer

Koonííni'ííni, Pathfinders and Starfinders!

Today, October 9th, is recognized as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in the United States of America. In honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, the Paizo offices are closed today. While we’re closed, we wanted to take a moment to recognize this holiday and suggest some resources for you to learn more!

Firstly, we would like to acknowledge that Paizo’s headquarters in Redmond, WA lies within the traditional homelands of the Duwamish and Sammamish tribes of Coast Salish peoples. Following the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855, these tribes and others were consolidated and relocated to the Tulalip Tribes of Washington Indian Reservation. Since time immemorial, they have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands.

If you are interested in knowing about the tribes and nations whose land you may be living on, here is an interactive map tool.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day honors the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, Alaska, and Hawaii for their contributions to art, culture, history, and society. It also acknowledges the solemn truth of the atrocities committed against indigenous peoples over the course of this nation’s history. By celebrating the indigenous people of this country—past and present—we honor our ancestors and keep Native traditions of land, air, and water sovereignty alive.

If you have the means, a wonderful way for those settling in these lands and their children to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day is to donate money, time, or community service to your local tribal community, or participate in an environmental conservation project in your community.

Some larger scale non-profits and organizations to support nationwide include:

• Native American Rights Fund
• Redhawk Indigenous Arts Council
• National Urban Indian Family Coalition
• Indigenous Justice
• Spirit of the Sun

As we take today off here at Paizo, thank you for taking a moment to read this blog and celebrate the work of our indigenous relatives and ancestors, not to mention the work of indigenous people across the games industry. We look forward to showcasing some more indigenous creatives here at Paizo for Native American Heritage Month in November!

Hohóu, in solidarity

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)
Marketing & Media Specialist

"And then he walked face-first into a swarm of mosquitos, just like that!” Lini chuckled. “I remember the first time I did that, so many years ago! It nearly scared the life out of me. He’s fine, though; just rattled from the experience.”

The orange-haired dwarf grunted acknowledgement, pausing in his forward motion long enough to ask, “This was while I was scouting?”

“Right,” the lively gnome confirmed. “That’s why Valeros and Ezren stayed back at camp. Val wanted to sleep off the mosquitos…”

“…and Ezren wanted to avoid getting his shoes wet again,” her friend grumbled.

“You’re not wrong.” Lini grinned, hopping over an old, grounded vine. “But I can’t really blame him for wanting to stay behind, Harsk. He’s been seeing enemies everywhere. Every plant’s a flesh-eater and each low-hanging vine’s a snake to the poor guy.”

“He’s not like us,” Harsk summarized.

Straight to the point as usual, the little druid mused, but no less correct for it. The three of them—her beloved companion Droogami, the ranger Harsk, and she—had already fallen into a comfortable pattern. Each of them knew the best places to set one’s feet to keep their steps as unobtrusive as possible, and they had a general knowledge of what to watch out for in this environment. Each was more comfortable here, in the middle of the thick-grown jungle, than in the chaos of “civilized” settlements. Likewise, they each trusted the other to be competent in their own skills.

“Right. And it’s never good to be alone, so I didn’t really mind them hanging back at camp while we went ahead,” Lini finished. She saw the momentary flicker of a grin cross Harsk’s face and knew he’d been thinking much the same thing about their traveling companions.

Exploring the jungle had been a lot easier since letting Ezren and Valeros stay back, she had to admit.

A short, sharp hiss of sound from the dwarf interrupted the conversation. Lini crouched instinctively and then rolled her eyes at herself; she was the one holding the torch. Most obvious target, anyone?

Fortunately, the ranger’s quick warning was not immediately followed by an attack. It was just a signal for her to be cautious. Moving forward quietly, keeping low, the green-haired druid soon discovered what Harsk had seen: through the darkness ahead, a stone monolith reached up through the shadows, impeding their chosen path.

Lini’s curiosity tingled through her, the thrill of discovery barely held at bay until she received an all-clear signal from Harsk and saw Droogami return from circling in the opposite direction. She practically bounced as she approached, hopping atop a nearby root, a thick but sturdy remnant from a long-fallen tree. At this greater height, she raised her small hand and gently cleared away a curtain of overgrown moss, then rested it along the edge of the strange, sculpted rock.

“Another one in the distance,” Harsk said, pointing out a similar shape at the edge of their vision. “Wonder how far these go.”

“Droo, look at this,” she breathed, running her fingers along the rock. “How old do you think this thing is?”

As ever, the snow leopard refused to lend her appraisal to the situation. Lini chuckled. “I bet Ezren’s kicking himself now. He’d have wanted to see this.” Though, she had to admit to herself, he’d have certainly seen that vine over there as another snake, that plush leaf as a squirmy caterpillar, that hanging bit of moss as a bat…

“We’ll bring them tomorrow. More light then,” Harsk said.

Nodding, Lini’s hand brushed over a dip in the stone’s surface. Following a hunch, the gnome cleared away more of the moss. “Hang on a tic...! Hey, Harsk, there’s some sculpted stuff on the monolith! Kinda looks all swirly and serpentine. Come and look!”

“One moment,” answered the ranger. His own exploration had turned up something odd: dark, splotchy stains on an otherwise-green leaf. Blood...? He looked up, trying to locate the source of any drip, but found nothing of interest above. His stomach tensed, as it often did when he realized there was likely danger nearby.

You never know what you’ll find in the heart of the jungle. Illustration by WIll O'Brien from Pathfinder GM Core.

Meanwhile, Lini’s eyes shifted, focusing just beyond the edges of the monolith, past the normal spectrum of light, into the space that allowed her to detect the presence of magic. What she found drew a thoughtful sound from her. “Huh. There’s a faint magical aura on it, too...”

Harsk’s warning whistle came just in time. Lini dropped down and saw the emerald green blur of a reptilian tail jam into the stone right where her head had been. Instinctually, she pulled magic around her, drawing from the earth and tightening her skin to mimic the stony strength of the monolith. If not for Harsk’s well-timed warning, she’d have been mincemeat! The creature righted itself along the side of the stone and reared up over the top, its bright, leathery wings catching the torchlight.

“Drake!” the ranger called. As if in answer, a second serpentine hunter launched itself from the trees, angling towards him. That was a mistake; lightning quick, Harsk brought his axes to hand and left a long wound along the creature’s side as it flew by, hearing a satisfying shriek in reaction.

Meanwhile, Droogami launched herself towards the perched dragon threatening Lini, deftly avoiding the swing of the creature’s stinger and swiping at it with her mighty claws.

Despite the danger she was in, Lini had to admit that jungle drakes were simply gorgeous creatures. Sure, they were larger than she was by a notable amount, and sure, their stingers hurt like nobody’s business and had enough goopy venom in them to sicken even the hardiest body. But they were just trying to eat, after all, and a dwarf, a gnome, and a big cat sure seemed like an easy meal. Lini could totally understand how tempting a target she must make. Still, how majestic they looked when they—Oops, it’s diving again!

Rolling clear of claws and dodging the drake’s stinger, Lini gathered her magic and aimed it at Droogami. Focusing nature’s might, she used herself as a conduit, feeding power into the great snow leopard. The little druid felt her bond with the cat strengthen, their shared energy invigorating her friend. “Droo!” she called. “Like we practiced!”

Her stalwart companion and protector stood between Lini and the hungry drake. Fixing the creature with its most menacing gaze, Droogami let loose a long, primal growl, a burst of sound that shredded the air before her. You are not hunter, the magically enhanced noise insisted as it tore into the drake. You are prey.

Even Harsk had to glance over his shoulder at the great cat; he’d never heard Droo do that before. He was glad he wasn’t the target of her aimed, pain-inducing yowl.

The drake, however, wasn’t so fortunate: it reeled, knocked off balance and startled by the painful sound. Its eyes widened with fear, and for a moment, it seemed to reconsider its options. Jungle drakes typically didn’t prefer to stay and face down their prey, instead opting to fly by, letting their venom do the work for them. This one’s meal had just become more trouble than it was worth.

Noting the creature’s hesitation, Lini pressed the attack, pulling her sling and sending sharpened, stinging rocks hurtling towards it. “Harsk, watch for the stingers and the spit,” she called.

“D’ya think?” countered Harsk, diving out of the way of a flailing stinger. He rolled closer to the great creature, angling his axes with the movement, and was rewarded with a horrible screech—and a spray of hot blood as he severed the drake’s stinger from its tail. Using his momentum, he leapt from the ground, slicing his weapons upward and catching the creature’s wing. It was all but done for, and the ranger wasted no time finishing the job.

That left the one facing Lini and Droogami. By now, the gnome had moved into a flanking position, sending stinging stones at its back while Droo slashed and clawed at the creature’s front. It was going to lose.

This was too much for the creature. In perhaps the smartest choice of its entire life, the drake decided that the small, helpless meal was neither as small nor as helpless as originally thought. It displayed its wings broadly to buy itself some space and, hissing, leapt into the canopy above, beating a hasty retreat.

The victory didn’t make the druid or her friends feel much better. Taking only a moment to catch his breath, Harsk asked tersely, “You hurt?”

“No,” breathed Lini, turning her attention to Droogami. A few moments reassured her that her friend was in healthy condition. “We’re both good. You?”

Harsk nodded, voicing the thought in the same moment Lini had it: “Strange that it chose to retreat so suddenly. I don’t like it.”

“I mean, we were more than it bargained for,” Lini said. “But I don’t like it either. They love to fly-by and poison, but it’s very rare for those things to only fly in twos.”

“Then there might be more,” Harsk said. “It might be getting friends. Let’s get back to camp.”

“And quickly,” agreed Lini. “Ez and Val may be in danger!”

Wasting no more time, Harsk bounded away. Lini hopped onto Droogami’s back and the giant cat was quick to follow. Tomorrow, they could return, clean the carcass, and continue exploring the ruins. Tonight, Ezren and Valeros might need help, and neither Lini nor Harsk intended to let their teammates down.

About the Author

Rachael Cruz is an award-winning writer / game designer whose TTRPG work can be found in Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed-Of, Dune: Adventures in the Imperium, Fantasy Age, RuneQuest, Star Trek Adventures, and more! She loves to help people of all ages play pretend and tell amazing stories together. For contact info, social addresses, and general writerly stuff, visit rachaelcruz.carrd.co.

About Iconic Encounters

OPC Musings

The weather’s taken a dramatic turn here in Seattle. Just a week ago it was bright sunshine and beautiful skies, but now things are dark, gloomy, dramatic, and chilly. It’s the perfect weather to curl up inside with your friends and family and play some games! We’ve got some great spooky scenarios for you this season, and some wintery adventures coming up to chill your bones. Let’s get into it!

Digital Adventure Releases

These adventures will be available on October 25, 2023.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-05: The Island of the Vibrant Dead*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-08: Lost Revelry*

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-09: Ridgerock Rescue*

*part of a subscription

PAX Unplugged

We're just under two months until PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia! Today we’re excited to let you know that pre-signups for our scenarios will open this coming Tuesday, October 9. You can register for the Warhorn and get ready for signups here.

Note that we are offering only a limited number of early signups for our scenario tables. Per PAX guidelines, demo offerings such as Pathfinder Bounties, board game demos, and Starfinder 2 demos are strictly on a walk-up basis. We’re also reserving a couple of seats at our scenario tables for walk-up players as well.

We’ve still got room for a few more volunteers as well! If you’re interested in helping us show off our games to the PAX Unplugged audience, get all the info and register to volunteer here.

Organized Play: Now Streaming on Foundry VTT

To show off our brand-new Society Foundry modules, the marketing team decided to put together a couple of very special liveplays for you! The first episodes of both our Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society liveplays have already aired, featuring a colorful cast of Paizo staffers capably led through our adventures by GM Jason Keeley! You can catch the conclusion to those adventures this Tuesday, October 10, and next Tuesday, October 17, on our Twitch or YouTube channel!

We hope you enjoy them—and hey, if you let my boss know you like them, we might get away with running some more…

The Perks of Board Gaming

As Paizo continues to release board games, as well as bring new licensed partners and their games into the fold, we thought we should look at how to reward players who own or play these games! As such, we’ve added a new category to the Accessory Perks page for board games!

Each current program has a listed benefit, and players who own a game and bring proof may select this benefit. However, to encourage actually playing the games, any participant in a session of a Pathfinder or Starfinder board game gains the benefit for 24 hours following the session. Why not get in a quick game of Goblin Firework Fight before your next convention slot?

Toys of Boundless Wonder 2023

For the past two years, the Northern Virginia lodge has organized a Toys for Tots event, bringing in the League of Aroden last year. This year’s event has just been announced, and they’re hoping to make it bigger and better than ever! If your local store or lodge is interested in helping to support a wonderful holiday program, and getting a chance to run this year’s Pathfinder Society special, read up on the event on the League of Aroden's blog.

GM Recognition

Order of the Wayfinder

In addition to the Campaign Service Coin, we also have one other award: the Order of the Wayfinder. This award is given out only once per year, and it recognizes a member of the community who has provided exceptional service. Typically, we give this award to individuals who have taken on a particular project and knocked it out of the park. Previously, this award has been awarded to the head of our Additional Resources review team and our Regional Venture-Coordinator for the Online region, among others.

This year’s Wayfinder was awarded at Gen Con Indy, but apparently I neglected to announce it widely until today. This year’s recipient was Heather Vigil. Heather has been the lead on our Gen Con Committee since before I was hired, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that I couldn’t run the show without her. Her depth of knowledge keeps the show running smoothly every year, and her dedication to the program is unmatched. On top of Gen Con, she runs two other conventions in Cincinnati each year, and finds time to make beautiful custom dice bags for the volunteers. She’s an absolute treasure to this organization and I’m so pleased to recognize her with this award, even if she’ll never forgive me for it.

Campaign Service Coins

This month, one new Campaign Service Coin was awarded at a local convention. We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay[at]paizo[dot]com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:
Gary Bush, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #884

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios as well as run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month, we had two GMs earn their 5th rank!
5th Nova (SFS1): Noah Posthuma
5th Glyph (PFS2): Stephan V

That's all from me! Until next time—Explore! Report! Cooperate! And play some games!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Hello, Pathfinders and Starfinders! Now that we’re getting back into the swing of regular streams here at Paizo, I thought it best to make an announcement post each month for upcoming streams. This way, you can mark your calendars in advance for all the amazing content coming your way!

Follow us on twitch to keep up with these streams as they air, and keep an eye out for the VODs, posted to YouTube afterwards.

---

Paizo LIVE!—Friday, October 6th 4–6 p.m.

Join us for this month’s Paizo LIVE! October’s topics include an update on Starfinder Second Edition from Dustin and Jenny, a look at the Pathfinder Season of Ghosts Adventure Path from freelance author Sen H.H.S, and a glimpse at the upcoming Pathfinder: Elemental Stones board game from designer Joe Pasini! Bring a beverage and your questions and get settled in for this monthly fireside chat.

Gayming Live—October 7

Paizo is excited to be participating in Gayming Live, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ gaming and geek convention! Join us Saturday, October 7 at 11:15 a.m. Eastern for Queer Characters, Queer Stories, Queer Worlds—a panel discussing inclusive and diverse world building in TTRPGs. Also on Saturday, October 7, join us at 6:15 p.m. Eastern for In the Footsteps of Horror—a pre-recorded actual play of Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #15.

Lost Omens Special—Friday, October 13th 4–5 p.m.

Take a trip to Tian Xia for this special Lost Omens Showcase Stream! Creative Director Luis Loza talks to Senior Designer James Case and Senior Developer Eleanor Ferron about the upcoming Pathfinder Lost OmensTian Xia World Guide and Pathfinder Lost OmensTian Xia Character Guide.

Starfinder Society Foundry Showcase—Tomorrow’s Seekers, Episode 2 — Tuesday, October 10th 4 p.m.

Did you miss the first episode of our Starfinder Society Showcase? Watch the VOD here to catch up.

Having assisted Aurora and Sarmack, our party of bright-eyed Starfinders continue their adventure by aiding Nykiti and Doctor Sevaille on missions of their own. Who will win the Starfinders’ hearts—and their votes?

Pathfinder Society Foundry Showcase—Intro to Year of Unfettered Exploration, Episode 2 — Tuesday, October 17th 4 p.m.

Did you miss the first episode of our Pathfinder Society Showcase? Watch the VOD here to catch up.

In their quest to show Venture Captain Taiwalei the Maze of the Open Road, our Pathfinders find themselves at an elemental intersection. Looking for a collection of elemental wisps, they journey back into the maze, astounded by what awaits them.

Starfinder Second Edition Developer Playtest — Wednesday, October 18th 1 p.m.

At 1pm PST on Wednesday October 18th over at twitch.tv/officialpaizo, the Starfinder Team will be streaming one of its internal playtest games for the new edition of Starfinder! Come watch as the team runs some combat encounters for the new system, including a preview of two classes we've not previously shown any content for!"

Starfinder releases its second Field Test!
Hey everyone! Welcome to the exciting reveal of our second Starfinder Second Edition Field Test.

If you didn’t already know, there's a new edition of Starfinder on the way. We’ve previously released a Field Test document that highlighted a work-in-progress snapshot of the new soldier class, plus some new firearms. Today we’re taking a similar approach and releasing the first five levels of the new mystic class, along with a handful of Starfinder 2e spells.

Concept Sketches by Kent Hamilton

Mystic is a class that we’re really interested in getting more feedback on. As a spontaneous caster, its connections currently give it access to the divine and primal traditions. However, regardless of the chosen connection, the mystic gains powerful healing in the form of its vitality network ability. Mystics can further customize how they use their vitality network through their connection and feat choices, but you’ll have to download the Field Test to learn more!

In our playtests, the mystic has been exceptionally efficient as a healer, in part because its powerful vitality network ability has the potential to restore large sums of Hit Points as a single action. However, the mystic is also a class that manages its resources, either doling out Hit Points in smaller chunks or saving up for a big heal that depletes the vitality network entirely. We found that in challenging encounters, the mystic might easily deplete their vitality network and need to decide whether or not keeping allies alive at low Hit Points is worth the risk.

This new rendition of the mystic relies on its connection and forming bonds with fellow party members. It shares a lot of the same design space as the First Edition mystic, just reworked to fit the Second Edition engine and to mesh in a broader sense with the setting. We’re taking some steps to allow for mystics to be more directly connected to deities, which wasn’t entirely possible in the past. This means that a player can create a mystic character who is a priest or follower of a deity and gain many of the same benefits that a cleric might enjoy. Don’t worry, mystics won’t be required to worship a deity.

Along with the mystic, we’re also including some new spells for everyone to check over. Some of these are spells we mentioned in our prior Field Test, now with actual stats included. In addition, we’ve included some fun thematic spells like doom scroll and motivating ringtone, which really show what Starfinder has to offer in terms of a truly different type of spellcasting—not to mention the modern and futuristic themes we want to explore with our new rules. As always, we’re excited to see fan feedback on our work and can’t wait to see the thoughts people share with us in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned for our upcoming Paizo Live, where members of the Starfinder team will further discuss the Field Test, as well as give some hints on exciting up-and-coming content for the new edition of Starfinder.

— The Starfinder Team

-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Starfinder Society Developer

Hello all! Mike Sayre here to give you your next peek into the Remaster project with a look at the updated ranger, appearing in Pathfinder Player Core this November.

The ranger is a wilderness warrior, a character who’s good with weapons, good with animals, good in the wilds, and who can sprinkle just a little bit of magic into their repertoire if they feel like it. By and large, this is one of the classes that most people consider to be solid and effective, good at its role both thematically and mechanically. While we’re not inclined to fix things that aren’t broken, the ranger being a generally solid and effective class pre-Remaster didn’t mean we didn’t have some notable opportunities to go in and spruce a few things up, improving the general progression and experience. I’ll be talking about a few of those things here.

The magical element of the ranger is often one of its more understated aspects, but it’s one people really care about. Originally, ranger focus spells, called warden spells, were added to the class after the fact in the Advanced Player’s Guide, and one of the downsides to this was that since they weren’t built into the class originally, the class didn’t have mechanisms in place to ensure that the ranger’s spellcasting proficiency improved as the character leveled up. In the Remaster, we’ve baked the spellcasting progression directly into the ranger’s core chassis, ensuring that class features like Ranger Expertise and Masterful Hunter naturally progress the ranger’s spellcasting proficiency all the way up to master. We also streamlined the feats that the ranger uses to accrue their warden spells and recategorized the spells into easily referenced groups; the 1st-level Initiate Warden feat allows you to choose from any of the initial warden spells (which are all of the ranger’s focus spells that start at 1st rank), and there are regularly paced feats all the way up to the 10th-level Peerless Warden feat that gives you access to the strongest ranger focus spells available, which are focus spells that all start at 5th rank.

Along with the general improvements to spellcasting, we also added some new feats to help make certain builds pop and shine a bit more brightly. Precision rangers who like combining warden spells with big shots from crossbows will likely appreciate the Warden’s Reload feat shown below, which allows them to reload as a free action once per round when they cast a warden spell; this combines nicely with staple spells like gravity weapon to increase your weapon damage or spells like ranger’s bramble that damage and immobilize your foes, making them easy targets for you to pick off from a safe distance!

Ranger snares are going to be the one thing not appearing in Player Core that were originally available to the class; snares were kind of the least satisfying of the options available to the ranger and the least used options, so we’ve pulled those out of the class. They’ll be appearing in Player Core 2 alongside the Snarecrafter archetype, with a much-needed facelift.

There were also a few places where we had feats that many people saw as being taxes that you had to pay to accomplish a specific flavor. For example, the Crossbow Ace feat that originally appeared in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook was written under the assumption that all crossbows were simple weapons, and so it provided a damage bonus that essentially converted those simple weapons into martial weapons whenever you took certain actions like using Hunt Prey or reloading. This ended up having a couple issues. On the one hand, the damage bonus was big enough that the feat felt like a “must have” if you were going to be using a crossbow, crowding out build versatility and other options. On the other hand, the feat was actively fighting with the ranger’s play loop; if you were Tracking your prey before combat began and you had your crossbow in hand loaded and ready for the fight, you didn’t have any way to get your damage bonus! Playing the character the way that everything in the game was telling you to play your character was leading to situations where you couldn’t use the abilities you were supposed to be using in the situations you were supposed to be using them.

To address those issues, we added a martial crossbow, the arbalest, so that you could expect a more reasonable damage output without needing to pay a feat tax. While we had the patient open on crossbows, we also adjusted them to make them their own weapon group, with a damage-oriented critical specialization that deals 1d8 persistent bleed damage plus additional bleed damage equal to the weapon’s item bonus to attack rolls. If you preferred the bow critical specialization they had before, you can add that back onto your crossbow with the grievous rune, which makes it so that getting a critical hit with your crossbow when you have the critical specialization adds the bleed damage and also pins the target to an adjacent surface until they Interact to pull the bolt free.

With the basic damage outlay on crossbows addressed via the core weapon system, we were able to make reloading more fun and tactical with the feat space that was opened up. In addition to options like the Warden’s Reload feat I mentioned previously, we’ve also reworked Crossbow Ace and similar options to function more like the gunslinger’s various reload abilities, giving you additional things you can do to reinforce your playstyle with reload weapons while improving your ability to achieve the kind of cinematic tactical maneuvering that the class was always aiming to provide.

So that’s everything I’ve got for you on the ranger! Thanks for tuning in and stay tuned for upcoming looks at the rest of what we’ve got coming to you in the Pathfinder Remaster.

CW: Spiders
Your hometown is in peril, and needs you to come to its rescue!

The remote town of Willowshore is nestled on the banks of the Ceiba River. Founded by religious pilgrims and host for a time to a bustling lumber business, in the first few years after the onset of the Age of Lost Omens, Willowshore’s fate looks grim. Already faced with fears about political upheaval due to the collapse of the empire of Lung Wa, and fearful of rumors that monsters from the deeper reaches of Shenmen are preparing to seize control of the land, Willowshore is ill prepared for a horrific new curse about to engulf the region.

In the Season of Ghosts Adventure Path, each player character calls Willowshore their home—be it one their family has lived in for generations or a place they’ve only recently arrived at. When your group awakens on the first day of summer in the nearby woods, what at first seems like the aftermath of a night spent too energetically during a festival reveals itself to be something much more sinister. Wildlife is acting strange and aggressive. Thick fog has descended upon the region. And at night... things get worse. Can you help your hometown escape from this sinister curse? Or are you and your homes equally doomed to fall into the clutches of sinister forces in this horror-themed Adventure Path set in the heart of the continent of Tian Xia?

Inside the Season of Ghosts Player’s Guide, you’ll find player-friendly, spoiler-free information and tips to help you make an exciting new character perfect for the Season of Ghosts Adventure Path, which is set just over a hundred years in the past, not long after the onset of the Age of Lost Omens itself!

This player's guide contains:

• Information about local customs in the rural town of Willowshore, and background on the state of the region in the years directly after the onset of the Age of Lost Omens, over 100 years in the past.
• Character suggestions, including recommendations for alignments, ancestries, classes, languages, skills, and feats well suited for this Adventure Path.
• Six new backgrounds to contextualize your character’s history with Willowshore, including additional benefits you can draw upon once per season, advice on how to integrate your character’s family and home into the town of Willowshore, and details on heirlooms you might begin the campaign with.
• A detailed gazetteer of the town of Willowshore and its hinterlands, including maps of the town and surrounding region and player-friendly notes and descriptions for thirty locations in the town itself!

Download The Player's Guide Today!

Your character’s ancestry determines which people they call their own, whether it’s diverse and ambitious humans, insular but vivacious elves, traditionalist and family-focused dwarves, or any of the other folk who call Golarion home. A character’s ancestry and their experiences prior to their life as an adventurer—represented by a background—might be key parts of their identity, shape how they see the world, and help them find their place in it.

Ancestries

Pathfinder Player Core introduces a variety of ancestries, each with their own heritage subgroups. These ancestries and heritages express a character’s culture and influence their attributes and abilities.

You can get special attribute boosts and flaws for your ancestry, such as a goblin getting better Dexterity and Charisma and worse Wisdom, or you can freely customize your attributes for any ancestry to play exactly the character you want.

The ancestries included in Pathfinder Player Core are: dwarf, elf, gnome, goblin, halfling, human, leshy, and orc.

Versatile Heritages

The peoples of Golarion are many, and they have a long history of intermingling or dabbling with forces capable of altering the very fabric of a mortal body or soul. The children born to such parents might have traits from each of their parents or physiological manifestations of the forces their ancestors were influenced by, manifesting as a specific heritage.

In order to reflect the great diversity of ancestries and cultures in Golarion, Pathfinder Player Core introduces versatile heritages—extra options including mixed ancestries and extraplanar origins. The most common among these are aiuvarins and dromaars, which represent a mix between human heritage and elven or orc heritage, respectively, in whatever way best fits the story of your character and their family.

Though a character can have only one heritage and one lineage feat, the possible permutations of a character’s background and family tree are virtually unlimited. An aiuvarin character might still have a changeling parent whose nature is visible in the coloration of their eyes even if they don’t have access to changeling ancestry feats, and a pitborn dwarf might very well have an ancestor with fey influences on their bloodline, reflected with a fey muse or patron gained through their class alongside their ancestral fiendishness.

Whether you’re looking to play a human fighter or a grimspawn leshy cleric, Pathfinder Player Core has a comprehensive guide to the ancestries and heritages of Golarion, opening new doors of possibility for your game!

Preorder Pathfinder Player Core on paizo.com or at your friendly local game store! Or, join the Pathfinder Rulebook Subscription and never miss a rulebook release!

Hello, Pathfinders!

What’s this month’s new gossip, you ask? Well, sit tight and I’ll dish it all out!

The air is growing cooler and with that, more and more of our little Society seems to be cozying up together and I, for one, am so pleased to see it! Your lovely Venture-Gossip spent a little time in Mendev these past few months, helping out around the Starrise Spire, shuffling around some documents about demons and the Worldwound and such, and I was able to get a few drinks with the lovely Sorranda Forgeheart, our steadfast leader of the Sibling Spears. We had a raucous good time, and she was willing to tell me that she might have gotten a kiss from a certain handsome knight who spends far too much time working and not enough time laughing.

Of course, I can never stay away from the Grand Lodge for too long, and I’m always eager to see who’s popping up and causing a ruckus. And wouldn’t you know it, I showed up just in time to see a royal carriage out front! I hid behind my packages (lots of boring manuscripts of demons and boats and hurricanes), and out stepped none other than Grand Princess Eutropia! She was accompanied by Lady Gloriana Morilla and her faithful companion Taldogis, and seemed to enjoy a conversation with Society leadership and a brief tour of the Lodge. What was just fascinating was the small carriage that arrived not two blocks away and had a pair of conspicuously inconspicuous humans mirroring her movements. Perhaps some of those handsome Lion Blades?

Illustration by Katerina Kirillova

Romance also seems to be blossoming among the Grand Lodge, but to whoever sent Kreighton Shaine flowers, I must warn you—that man consumed them immediately and had no idea that they were from a paramour. However, to the lovely person who sent Urwal flowers, he immediately recognized their worth and meaning and then consumed them with a passion and ardor I haven’t seen in decades!

Illustration by Raphael Madureira

For my final update before I really get into some trouble: A beautiful woman from Jalmeray arrived recently, telling everyone that she was close friends with our own Venture-Captain Safa and dropping off a birthday gift of a gorgeous, jeweled tiger statue for her quarters within the Grand Lodge. I got a good look at it before it was moved, and the eyes are made of rubies that catch the light and seem like they’re looking right at you!

That’s everything I have for now! Next time we’ll take a dive into everyone’s plans for the Winter Solstice and which couples might be cuddled up together through the cold nights!

With adoration,
Your Beloved Venture-Gossip

Explore! Report! Cooperate! Gossip!

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers! We’re changing the format of this a bit so that we can showcase an equal number of Starfinder and Pathfinder Infinite titles.

August’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and are presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

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Pathfinder Infinite Top Performers

Classy Dragons

Dragons have existed for millennia and are well known for being majestic, powerful, imposing, and dangerous... but now it's time for them to get classy! A variety of dragons exist across Golarion, each with their own story to tell and role to play! Why just throw a red dragon at your players for the sake of it when they could interact with an interesting NPC such as the curious and friendly Paatic, with their hoard of plants and baubles, who could serve as an ally for your party? If that’s not your speed, maybe terrifying Rike, the Bitter Behemoth, might be just the thing for you!

Faith’s Reward — Irori

Celebrate and serve the Master of Masters with this document that details his followers and allies, including some that might surprise you. This book presents new ways to express your faith in Irori or in one of his surprising allies and includes denominations and a pantheon.

Kitsune of Golarion*

Living clandestinely among Golarion's ancestries, kitsune make formidable foes and canny heroes. Kitsune of Golarion unlocks the full potential of this ancestry, detailing kitsune from every corner of the globe. This supplement expands the work presented in Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide and is penned by some of the same authors who write the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Queerfinder Issue 2: Absalom Winter Traditions

Welcome to the second issue of the Queerfinder Society's travel magazine, a guide to Golarion from queer creators and allies that’s focused on queer characters and stories! Celebrate the winter solstice with festivals, fiction, recipes, and more!

Smoke and Sail: A Pathfinder 2e Naval Warfare Sourcebook*

Few environments conjure feelings of excitement and trepidation more acutely than the ocean, with its endless rhythm of churning waves and all its possibilities for adventure. Tenacious crews sailing ships of all sizes make perilous journeys across the majestic vastness that stretches from horizon to horizon, certain that their vessels will carry them to shore under any sky and over any sea.

This sourcebook provides a comprehensive ruleset for running such a vessel and engaging in thrilling, ship-based combat encounters.

Starfinder Infinite Top Performers

Barlow Gryffynkritz’s Guide to Xenofactors Engineering

Is your Starfinder character an enterprising dreamer dually fascinated by psychology and science? Or, like the slacker students at the antiquated and underfunded Akiton University of Technology and Technomancy, is your character utterly clueless about their life’s direction? Then Barlow Gryffynkritz, an overly enthusiastic career expert, thinks the path of xenofactors engineering will be a perfect fit!

Deep Space Adventurers: Grand Promenade Summer Catalog: 323 AG

This Jamfinder Game Jam entry features a collection of magical and hybrid items for summer-themed adventures! From magical tattoos and dawnflower sashes to leaf blades and rhythm sticks, this menagerie of items has everything a summer game needs!

FrightFinder: The Radiating Abyss

FrightFinder: The Radiating Abyss is a gruesome horror adventure designed for four 5th level Starfinder characters. As this is a horror adventure, please make note of the listed content warnings.

A research facility named DMEI-4 has gone dark. Past the final planet of the Pact Worlds system, this derelict space station contains room after room of nightmares, the unfortunate aftermath of research without morals. Good luck, Starfinders. You'll need it.

Into the Void - A Starfinder Adventure

Into the Void is a beginning adventure for Starfinder and can serve as a starting point for the Dead Suns Adventure Path.

The Lazarus, the ship that the heroes find themselves aboard, suffered a catastrophic problem before it arrived at its intended destination and crash-landed on a desolate planet in The Vast. Now they must figure out who they are, repair their ship with the help of the locals, and return to Absalom Station.

Starfinder - Planar Powers*

Harness the power of the Planes in your Starfinder game! Play a conrasu or tap into the power of the Maelstrom with Chaos, become a totemist, or upgrade your character with elemental augmentations! Within this supplement, you’ll find 30+ pages of content, including a new playable species, alternate class paths for mystic, soldier, and solarian, 10 pages of new feats, and 6 new augmentations.

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New from Infinite Masters!

Want to see what’s been cooking in the Infinite Masters’ alchemy lab? Here’s a selection of new products from some of our Infinite Masters!

• A Little Book of Festival Games brings nuance and depth to festivals and celebrations with three fully fleshed out festival games.
• Festival of the Butterflies is a single-session encounter based around Desna’s Swallowtail Release Festival.
• Combination Weapons Unleashed brings out the full potential of combination weapons with new archetypes, feats, weapons, and more!
• Votefinder provides a new election subsystem for Pathfinder Second Edition, along with player options and potential candidates for local office.
• A Class of Species — Instance 02: Kobold Evolutionists presents new options for the evolutionist class, popularized by specific species.

Creating a compelling tale takes more than just heroes—it requires a complex cast of allies, adversaries, and villains! As the Game Master, your job is to narrate the story, working with the players to imagine an epic adventure. The GM Core is here to help you with every facet of the game, including guidelines on story structure, tips on creating thrilling combat, and amazing treasure to reward your heroes for saving the day! This book has everything you need to become a legendary Game Master.
—GM Core

Pathfinder GM Core releases this November 15 at your favorite local game store, bookstore, and the Paizo Store along with Pathfinder Player Core. As part of the Pathfinder Second Edition Remaster Project, it offers a fresh entry point to the Pathfinder Second Edition roleplaying game for Game Masters!

Customization and support are at the foundation of Pathfinder, and this book provides you with numerous ways to customize your game. Select whatever parts you need for the game you’re running with the toolbox nature of GM Core.

This blog will guide you in navigating the chapters of the GM Core, just like a trusty wayfinder! If you’re brand new to tabletop roleplaying games, read our summary on Archives of Nethys.

Introduction

The focus of every Pathfinder game is the player characters—they’re the stars of the show and appear in every scene that plays out in-game. But what about those scenes? What stories are being told? What old legends are being discovered, and what new ones are being forged? Who are the villains, the allies, the traitors, the lovers, the monsters, and the gods? Who runs the world? When you’re the Game Master, that’s all up to you!
— GM Core

Here you will find the basics of what it means to be a GM and guidance from the authors on how to use the book. They help you choose your tools whether you are a new GM, running a published adventure, making your own, or just need items.

Running the Game

As Game Master, you run each session of Pathfinder, providing the link between the players and the world of the game. It’s up to you to set the scene as the player characters battle monsters, interact with other people, and explore new locations.
— GM Core

This chapter provides tools to create a welcoming environment, prepare adventures, create characters, and plan and run sessions. You will find one of the best guides in the industry on special considerations, running encounters, exploration, downtime, difficulty classes, and rewards. You will also find sidebars on topics such as Tools for Responsible Play, Collaboration During Play, and more!

Building Games

Game Mastering can be an extremely creative endeavor, and this chapter gives you a suite of tools to make your own campaign or adventure. You can even create your own creatures, hazards, and items to populate your game, or even make your own game world!
— GM Core

This chapter covers everything you need to build an adventure of your own, from campaign structure to encounter design, world building, variant rules, and more. While you may need to make something from scratch, you can also adapt existing material using the guidance from this chapter. Build your own hazards, items, and creatures using GM Core’s in-depth developer advice and mathematical benchmarks. The Rewards section gives you all you need to distribute Experience Points, Hero Points, and treasure throughout your campaign.

Age of Lost Omens

Ten thousand years ago, the world of Golarion came close to ending. Earthfall, as this extinction-level event came to be known, saw the world pummeled by a shower of falling stars that sank continents, hollowed out new seas, and destroyed civilizations. It took centuries for the world to recover, and centuries more for society to rebuild, but recover it did.
— GM Core

Though the Building Games chapter includes everything you need to create your game world, the Age of Lost Omens is a fully developed setting that’s ready to use and has vast amounts of support across Paizo’s adventures and Lost Omens books. Explore the Inner Sea Region and beyond, learning about the rich cultures, religions, and factions therein. Use tools like nation and settlement stat blocks to understand our locations or flesh out your own realms. This chapter also covers extraplanar setting elements, taking your campaign into the Great Beyond.

Subsystems

When your game goes into uncharted territory or you want to emphasize an element of gameplay that usually gets overlooked or condensed into a single check, you can use a subsystem. As the name implies, subsystems are extensions of the main rules system that allow you to explore a particular topic or style of play at your table.
— GM Core

Part of Pathfinder’s robust game engine lies in its ability to explore elements of gameplay that are not always in the forefront. The Subsystems chapter gives Game Masters a diverse set of tools to tackle any in-game challenge and to track progress on tasks using Victory Points. Where some systems may leave you in the lurch wondering “what should my players roll for this?”, Pathfinder’s subsystems provide support for Game Masters and players alike. Subsystems covered in this chapter include Influence, Research, Infiltration, Dueling, and more.

Treasure Trove

Characters acquire treasure from the glittering hoards of their foes, as rewards for defending the innocent, and as favors from the grand personalities they treat with. As they progress through their adventures and improve their station in the world, characters collect ever more fabulous items, from enchanted armor and weapons to spell-infused wands and staves.
— GM Core

The Treasure Trove is a Game Master’s guide of alchemical and magical items and how to use them. Not only does this chapter cover a large range of treasure—ranging from potions and magical staves to apex items and more—but it’s also a comprehensive guide to reading item stat blocks and understanding how items work.

Finally, GM Core is complete with Treasure Table, Glossary, and Index sections as additional tools for you to use on the fly.

Inside GM Core you’ll find the guidance you need to build and run the fantastic stories you wish to tell!

—The Paizo Team

P.S.
After you’ve devoured GM Core, get started with the Pathfinder Society to find games and hone your skills. Don’t forget to subscribe or preorder today to get Pathfinder Monster Core in March 2024 and Pathfinder Player Core 2 in July 2024!

An unusual surprise came to Osprey Cove the morning after the storm. On an early dawn walk to appraise the storm’s damage, Elder Johedia stumbled across a gravely wounded man at the edge of town. Suffering from exposure, two infected crossbow bolt wounds, and a strange sickness that left rust-red splotches all over his body, the man gasped an unsettling warning before he died: “Iron Harbor... rust... ship... all dead... before... too late...

Illustration by Luis Salas Lastra

The man was dressed in rusted armor and clutched an equally rusted religious symbol of Gorum in one hand. This, and his final words, suggested something dreadful had occurred in the nearby village of Iron Harbor. Osprey Cove’s youngest leader, Elder Ordwi, quickly organized an expedition to make the daylong trip east to Iron Harbor, in order to offer aid as needed but also extend overtures of peace, hopefully bringing an end to the yearslong feud between the two Kindred Coast villages.

illustration by Firat Solhan

Whether you volunteered or were recruited, your group is now well on their way along the Old Coast Road as Elder Ordwi’s escorts. What awaits your arrival at Iron Harbor?

Illustration by Luis Salas Lastra

Pathfinder Adventure: Rusthenge is a deluxe standalone adventure for 1^st-level characters, designed by Vanessa Hoskins. This adventure was specifically created to be an introduction to Pathfinder and the Age of Lost Omens, perfect for new players! Seasoned Pathfinder adventurers will enjoy the callbacks to the era of the runelords and new monsters tied to Rusthenge’s notorious history.

Explore New Thassilon and Osprey Cove to discover the secrets of a mysterious rusting illness before it’s too late!

This adventure is available as part of our Pathfinder Adventures subscription line.

¡Feliz Mes de la Herencia Hispana!

September 15th through October 15th is recognized in the United States as Hispanic Heritage Month, recognizing the independence dates of many Latin American countries, including Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Chile. Since 1988, the United States has celebrated Hispanic and Latine contributions to American culture during this month.

The theme of this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month is Prosperity, Power, and Progress! In celebration, we’ve invited some of our Latine contributors and coworkers to speak on our blog.

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Joseph Blomquist (he/him)

¿Qué es la que hay corillo?

This month’s theme of prosperity, power, and progress is a chance to talk about growth in my freelance work. I’ve worked for a slew of companies over the years on reviews, rules, and narrative work. I’ve had the chance to include elements of the islands I love in the games I love. And over time, my stories, word counts, and NPCs have (some literally) grown.

If you’ve played my previous adventures here at Paizo, you know that I try to toss in a lot of theme and character into the background. For example, in SFS 2-21 Illegal Shipment, I leaned into the claustrophobia of Fogtown; in PFS 4-02 Return to the Grave, the dark haunted forests of the Gravelands were as much a character as the fallen NPCs you face; and the upcoming PFS 5-05 The Island of the Vibrant Dead is set on an island inspired by the Caribbean paradises I only visited in my youth.

Yet how much can ambiance prepare you for what is to come? How ready are you for giant robots versus kaiju in both Mechageddon! and Pacific Rim coming for you ahorita? Everything that went into my scene building has grown to encompass the scale of what is coming soon. And I can’t wait to share it with you.

Carlos Cabrera (he/they)

Hi everyone. I am a third party and Paizo freelancer for Pathfinder, voice actor, and as of last year and concurrently along with my daughter, burgeoning board game designer! With this year’s theme I thought I would highlight where I’ve come from personally, professionally, and culturally.

The board game design I sold felt more my own than my usual work. It was made without outline or prompt, pitched, and sold, and not so much a piece of a greater whole as RPG books go (which I still do, gratefully). Then a cousin of mine reminded me I said at 9 years old I wanted to make my own game. I was 39 then, so you can imagine how emotional I was that it took me that long.

In addition to that accomplishment, I have special reason to be proud this month. As a mixed-race person of color, I have had my words in print, my voice and likeness in video games, and I’ve become more comfortable with myself, using aspects of my own culture in the characters I create—be it in LARP or future works. Eventually that will include my own logo, and for my daughter’s works as well.

To see more of what our Latine contributors bring to Paizo, take a look at these previous Hispanic Heritage Month blogs:

• Hispanic Heritage Month 2022
• Hispanic Heritage Month 2021

We’re so happy to have a diverse set of voices contributing to the games we make here at Paizo, because we know their perspectives make our worlds richer and better!

Hello, there! I’m Logan Bonner, Pathfinder Lead Designer, here to discuss some of the changes to spells and spellcasting in the remastered books, especially Pathfinder Player Core. James recently went over some details about the remastered wizard, and I’m going to cover the changes to spellcasting overall.

If you want to read some more on the subject, the Core Preview file goes into detail about the term “spell rank” replacing “spell level,” the removal of spell schools, the new spell format seen in the following examples, and some more information about focus spells and the remastered Refocus action.

Spellcasting

As we’ve mentioned in several places, we’ve removed spell components from spells for several reasons:

• They were highly tied to OGL content. We’re moving away from them.
• They were mostly redundant with traits. Though there were some shades of nuance here, most of the time, the player needed to remember that material, somatic, and focus components added the manipulate trait to a spell and verbal components added concentrate. The new system adds those traits directly and cuts out the middleman (the components).
• There were a ton of exceptions to make classes play as intended. You can see in the sidebar on page 303 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebookthat the bard, cleric, druid, and sorcerer all had exceptions for how their components work. This removal lets the classes work as intended without having to learn the system and then having to learn which parts of that system you could ignore.
• Classes wanted more freedom to define how they cast spells. As the game has grown, both over the course of 1st Edition and 2nd Edition, more class concepts came up that wanted to cast spells with different particulars and presentation. Ultimately, we decided we preferred to let the classes define how they cast and let the theme dictate their mechanics rather than to have a “consistent” system that must either restrict classes or be undermined by them.

Lini casts wall of thorns to impede charau-ka adversaries! Illustration by Firat Solhan

Spell Statistics

If you’ve looked at the War of Immortals playtest classes, you may have noticed that the animist is “Trained in spell attack modifier” and “Trained in spell DC.” Why doesn’t it say “divine?” This represents a change to spellcasting for all characters who get spells, whether it’s from a class, innate spells, an archetype, or any other source. You no longer need to track proficiency separately for each tradition; there’s just one proficiency now. To update an existing character, you’ll simply use the highest proficiency you already have for all your spells. Why has this changed?

• Reduce tracking. Having multiple proficiencies could be annoying to keep track of, especially for a complicated character.
• Enable interesting character concepts. Though you might think it would be fun to play a cleric with a bard archetype, the spell statistics could be so much worse that it wasn’t worth pursuing.
• Let the attributes do the work. We already have another way that the secondary spells you acquire can be worse—they likely use different attributes. In the above example, you’d still need Wisdom for cleric spells and Charisma for bard spells. That’s enough of a difference to account for without tossing in a gulf between proficiencies that pushes the stats further apart. It also allows you to eliminate the gap entirely if you choose options that use the same attribute.

Cantrips

We’ve made several revisions to damaging cantrips, with the broadest change being to use only damage dice rather than adding an attribute modifier. Like with most changes we made to the system, this was decided after examining multiple factors that were causing problems together.

• Consistency with how other spells work. Most spells deal just dice for damage, and cantrips were an outlier. Making spells look and function more consistently across the board helps in understanding the rules, especially for new players.
• Match their damage to our intended spell benchmarks. One-target cantrips were supposed to deal around 6 damage, with focus spells and spell slots dealing a bit more. Adding the spellcasting attribute modifier pushed all the damage numbers off their baseline.
• Avoid penalizing characters who have damage cantrips from innate spells or multiclassing twice. Characters who got damaging cantrips from multiclassing or as innate spells from ancestry feats or the like often have a lower attribute modifier than a dedicated spellcaster and were dealing with both a lower chance of success and lower damage if they hit. This is a smaller issue, but often led to players being unhappy with their character options.
• Cleaning up how cantrips work for monsters. This is another smaller issue, but a pain point for GMs. It was unclear how to apply the spellcasting attribute modifier for monsters with cantrips.

A good example of a cantrip built in a new manner is caustic blast, which now uses a burst and works a bit more like other spells rather than having a player need to learn how splash damage works for the purposes of a single spell the way acid splash did.

Caustic Blast [two-actions] Cantrip

Acid, Cantrip, Concentrate, Manipulate
Traditions arcane, primal
Range 30 feet; Area 5-foot burst
Defense basic Reflex
You fling a large glob of acid that immediately detonates, spraying nearby creatures. Creatures in the area take 1d8 acid damage with a basic Reflex save; on a critical failure, the creature also takes 1 persistent acid damage.
Heightened (+2) The initial damage increases by 1d8, and the persistent damage on a critical failure increases by 1.

We’ve also revamped many of the non-damaging cantrips. Here you can see both read aura, which needed adjustment due to the removal of spell schools and now speaks more directly to identifying the item, and light, which incorporates both parts of the original light spell and the removed spell dancing lights to provide players with an alternative that allows for more creativity and flexibility.

Read Aura Cantrip 1

Cantrip, Concentrate, Detection, Manipulate
Traditions arcane, divine, occult, primal
Cast 1 minute
Range 30 feet; Targets 1 object
You focus on the target object, opening your mind to perceive magical auras. When the casting is complete, you know whether that item is magical. You (or anyone you advise about the aura) gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Identify Magic on the item. If the object is illusory, you detect this only if the effect’s rank is lower than the rank of your read aura spell.
Heightened (3rd) You can target up to 10 objects.
Heightened (6th) You can target any number of objects.

Light [two-actions] Cantrip 1

Cantrip, Concentrate, Light, Manipulate
Traditions arcane, divine, occult, primal
Range 120 feet
Duration until your next daily preparations
You create an orb of light that sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius (and dim light for the next 20 feet) in a color you choose. If you create the light in the same space as a willing creature, you can attach the light to the creature, causing it to float near that creature as it moves. You can Sustain the spell to move the light up to 60 feet; you can attach or detach it from a creature as part of this movement.
You can Dismiss the spell. If you Cast the Spell while you already have four light spells active, you must choose one of the existing spells to end.
Heightened (4th) The orb sheds light in a 60-foot radius (and dim light for the next 60 feet).

Focus Spells

We’ve already mentioned and shown several changes to how Focus Points work in the Core Preview document. Mainly, the number of points for your focus pool is always equal to the number of focus spells you know, to a maximum of 3, and you can Refocus for 10 minutes to regain 1 Focus Point regardless of how many points you’ve already spent. If you want to see the new Refocus rules for yourself, take a look at the Core Preview document.

This alone should make focus spells more dependable and simpler to use and track. Additionally, we’ve taken a look at a few of the focus spells that didn’t function well as focus spells and tuned them up. Let’s look at waking nightmare, for example. It can now make a creature paralyzed instead of fleeing and can make the creature take extra mental damage.

Waking Nightmare [two-actions] Focus 1

Uncommon, Cleric, Concentrate, Emotion, Fear, Focus, Manipulate, Mental
Range 30 feet; Targets 1 creature
Saving Throw Will; Duration varies
You fill the creature’s mind with a terrifying vision. The target must attempt a Will save. A creature frightened by this spell takes 1 additional mental damage each time it’s hit by a Strike.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target is frightened 1.
Failure The target is frightened 2. If it’s asleep, it wakes up and is paralyzed for 1 round.
Critical Failure As failure, but frightened 3.
Heightened (+1) The mental damage increases by 1.

Many focus spells with longer casting times, like read fate and safeguard secret, have had their casting times reduced, so you can use them in the middle of an encounter or scene.

What About Normal Spells?

So, you’ve heard about cantrips and focus spells, but what about all those other spells? For the most part, spells cast from slots work similarly to how they did before. Let’s look at a couple of those spells! First is thunderstrike, which replaces shocking grasp. It starts off with lower damage, but it becomes ranged instead of being a melee spell and heightened versions increase its damage output.

Thunderstrike [two-actions] Spell 1

Concentrate, Electricity, Manipulate, Sonic
Traditions arcane, primal
Range 120 feet; Targets 1 creature
Defense basic Reflex
You call down a tendril of lightning that cracks with thunder, dealing 1d12 electricity damage and 1d4 sonic damage to the target with a basic Reflex save. A target wearing metal armor or made of metal takes a –1 circumstance bonus to its save, and if damaged by the spell is clumsy 1 for 1 round.

Heightened (+1) The damage increases by 1d12 electricity and 1d4 sonic.

Second, we have tree of seasons, which we’ve previously mentioned in streams and such. It’s taking the “explosive seeds” spot formerly held by fire seeds, but with a bit more variety, higher damage, and the option to create the tree farther away from you.

Tree of Seasons [two-actions] Spell 6

Concentrate, Manipulate, Plant, Wood
Traditions primal
Range 60 feet
Duration 1 minute
You cause a Small tree to instantly sprout in an unoccupied space on the ground. Four seedpods grow from the tree, each filled with the magic of a different one of the four seasons. A creature can Interact to pluck one of the pods and can then either throw it up to 30 feet as part of the same action or do so with a separate Interact action later. When thrown, a pod explodes in a 5-foot burst, dealing 6d6 damage with a basic Reflex save against your spell DC. The damage type depends on the season of the pod: electricity for spring, fire for summer, poison for autumn, or cold for winter. When the spell ends, the tree withers away and any remaining pods rot, leaving behind non-magical seeds.
Heightened (+1) The burst’s damage increases by 1d6.

Logan Bonner)
Pathfinder Lead Designer

Hello, Starfinders!

This month, we’re sending one lucky team of Starfinders to Akiton to participate in the inaugural Dustwarren Cup, a three-day boat race across the vast, shifting sand dunes of Akiton’s Dustwarren silt sea. Organized by retired racer Mimli Nurkop, eccentric scion of the fabulously wealthy (and much-gossiped-about) Nurkop ysoki clan, the Dustwarren Cup is drawing plenty of attention. So, hop aboard your racing yacht, set sail across the Dustwarren, and keep an eye out for danger! In a race this big, there’s bound to be trouble!

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-07: Race for the Dustwarren Cup is an adventure for 7th- through 10th-level characters written by Solomon St. John.

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Illustration by Tom Ventre

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Greetings Pathfinders!

This month we’re going back to Magnimar, to Heidmarch Manor, where a simple delivery task will probably turn out to be anything but. Sheila Heidmarch has prepared a gift for a very discerning dragon, but a master thief has his eyes on that prize.

In Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-03 Heidmarch Heist, an adventure for PCs 5th– through 8th level, it’s up to you and your fellow PCs to ensure that the Pathfinder’s chosen gift doesn’t end up as bragging rights for an up-and-coming gang of escapees from Xin-Edasseril. Hilary Moon Murphy has put all of the flavor of Magnimar that could possibly fit into this scenario, so whether you’re a Society veteran, you’ve never set foot in the city, or anything in between, you’ll love the city as much as you hate the thief trying to ruin everything

Left to right, illustrations by Benjamin Olson and Josef Kucera

Speaking of plans gone awry, we’re also bringing you Pathfinder Quest #15 In the Footsteps of Horror. A repeatable 2 hour adventure for PCs levels 1–4, this is the second release of our new Series 2 quests, and author Shan Wolf has crafted a wonderful dungeon crawl that starts, as all excellent stories do, when the unexpected completely sends all plans off the rails.

You and your fellow PCs will have to put your mission on the backburner as you fight to survive, and hopefully to find a way back home. If you were looking for an offering in our new quest series heavier on combat, then this is the adventure for you.

Left to right, illustrations by Nicolas Espinoza and Allan Santos da Silva

And for our final option for this month, we have a trip planned for Hwanggot! Pathfinders will meet with Venture-Captain Yi Da Som and the Waterfall in order to help them prepare for a meeting with Valashinaz, the underworld dragon of myth and legend. However, upon arriving, it seems her assistant Purepurin has not only forgotten the meeting, but is busy contending with a legion of pests! Among pickle jars and treasure piles, where could this kobold be?

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-04: Equal Exchanges – Necessary Introductions is an adventure for 1st- through 4th-level characters written by Michelle Y. Kim.

That’s all for now, Pathfinders! See you in October!

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Hello all!

Michael Sayre here, Design Manager for the Pathfinder Rules & Lore team, and the lead on the upcoming Pathfinder War of Immortals. I’m chiming in to remind you all that we are now a few days past the halfway point of the playtest for the new animist and exemplar classes. If you haven’t seen the playtest yet, make sure to head to https://paizo.com/pathfinderplaytest and download it now! If you have seen the playtest, head to that same link to leave your survey feedback. We’ve already gotten hundreds of responses and we’re very pleased with the positive response. The team has already begun sifting through some of your insights in preparation for the next steps, when we continue developing these classes after the playtest closes.

As normal for these playtests, we’ll tell you a bit more about the insights we’ve derived from your feedback once the playtest closes. For the sake of keeping that data as strong as possible, we don’t want to bias the results by saying too much, too early. There are a couple common questions I think we can answer for you now, though.

Will the animist get more apparitions in the final version? Absolutely! Right now, the apparitions we’ve packaged with the playtest are testing specific dynamics of play, with a focus on specific roles we think the animist is likely to fill. You can definitely expect to see more apparitions in the final release.

Will the exemplar get more ikons and epithets? The exemplar will definitely see new ikons post-playtest, and the chances of new epithets are pretty high, though we’re still sifting through data about the degree to which these mechanics are working for folks. The final form that epithets take based on your feedback might have some influence on how many are published in the final product.

What about new feats? Again, the chances are really high. Some of the feats we put out for the playtest were very experimental, so it’s possible that you might see some feats go away and other feats take their place in the final product. Other feats might have aspects of their level, functionality, or other parameters change. Our playtests are playtests, not previews, so while there’s often certain elements of what we present that we’re pretty confident will stick around in some form for the final version, anything might change based on the feedback you give us and the general satisfaction levels our players are finding within the playtested classes.

Illustrations by Wayne Reynolds

And that’s about all I’ve got for you, folks! Though, maybe…

So, sometimes we have more ideas than fit in a book, and I’ve certainly had some ideas that I think are fun but unlikely to make it to print. The circus-themed apparition below is one such idea, so you tell me, folks: on a scale of 1–10, where 1 is “evil circus spirits don’t belong in my game” and 10 is “GIMME ALL THE EVIL CLOWNS!!!”, how much do you think something like the Reveler in Lost Glee should be in the final product?

Reveler in Lost Glee

Revelers in lost glee are twisted apparitions that arise in desolate and abandoned places where people once found great joy. They find immense mirth in causing harm or discomfort to others and don’t enjoy being attuned to animists who fail to laugh at their antics.

Apparition Skills Circus Lore, Fortune-Telling Lore

Apparition Spells Cantripprestidigitation; 1stdizzying colors; 2ndlaughing fit; 3rdhypnotize; 4thconfusion; 5thillusory scene; 6thvibrant pattern; 7thwarp mind; 8thquandary; 9thwails of the damned

Vessel Spell trickster’s mirrors

Avatar Ringmaster of the Dark Celebration Speed 50 feet, ignore difficult terrain and greater difficult terrain; Melee [one-action] ringmaster’s whip (reach 15 feet, trip), Damage 6d10+6 slashing; Ranged [one-action] feast of the lost (acid, range 120 feet, versatile void), Damage 6d6+6 acid

Apparition Vessel Spell

Trickster’s Mirrors [one-action] Focus 1

Uncommon, Animist, Focus, Illusion, Mental, Visual

Defense basic Will

Duration sustained up to 1 minute

You are surrounded by up to 3 mirrors that reflect twisted and distorted images of you, making it hard to tell where you actually are within your space and potentially causing those who attack you to hit one of the mirrors instead. You start with one mirror and gain an additional mirror each time you Sustain this spell, up to a maximum of three mirrors. Any attack that would hit you has a random chance of hitting one of your mirrors instead of you. With one mirror, the chances are 1 in 2 (1–3 on 1d6). With two mirrors, there is a 1 in 3 chance of hitting you (1–2 on 1d6). With three mirrors, there is a 1 in 4 chance of hitting you (1 on 1d4).

Once a mirror is hit, it is destroyed. If an attack roll fails to hit your AC but doesn't critically fail, it destroys a mirror. If the attacker was within 5 feet, it must succeed at a basic Will save or take 1d4 mental damage as it believes itself cut by a shower of glass shards from the breaking mirror. A damaging effect that affects all targets within your space (such as a caustic blast) destroys all of the mirrors.

Heightened (+1) The mental damage dealt by a broken mirror increases by 1d4.

Hail and well met, Pathfinders and Starfinders! This month’s new releases place you at the breaking point of a centuries-old conflict, the front lines of a brand-new race, and the middle of a heist!

Keep an eye out as we shift our release dates back in the coming months to accommodate the winter holidays! Never miss a release with our Paizo Subscriptions—for everything from rulebooks to accessories.

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Pathfinder Adventure Path #195: Heavy is the Crown (Sky King’s Tomb 3 of 3)

HISTORY SEALED IN STONE!

A sorcerous rival threatens to breach the Sky King’s Tomb ahead of the PCs, turning its contents and legendary guardian against all dwarves. The PCs must raise an army, venture into the Darklands’ depths, and clash with a titanic beast if they’re to defeat their enemy, explore the tomb, and uncover a lost legacy that could rewrite dwarven history! The Sky King’s Tomb Adventure Path concludes with “Heavy is the Crown,” an adventure for 8th- to 10th-level characters.

Starfinder Flip-Mat: Mining Operation

DRILLING DOWN

All the ore and crystal that get fashioned into your characters’ high-tech equipment has to come from somewhere! Whether on a distant asteroid or in the mountainous region of a well-known planet, this mining operation is the perfect place for investigating subterranean dangers or industrial saboteurs. This double-sided map presents the surface structures of a mine on one side and a series of underground tunnels on the other. Starfinder Flip-Mats present ready-to-use science-fantasy set pieces for the busy Game Master. With Starfinder Flip-Mat: Mining Operation, you’ll be ready the next time your player characters want to dig deep for adventure!

Pathfinder Flip-Mat Classics: Haunted Dungeon

FRIGHTS BELOW!

The reputed horrors of ancient dungeons—and the forgotten treasures within—are enough to attract any group of adventurers. But regardless of a party’s foolhardy urge to delve into places better left alone, no Game Master wants to spend time drawing every creepy crypt or sinister hallway the characters explore.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-03: Heidmarch Heist

A Pathfinder Society Scenario for 5th through 8th level characters.

The PCs are tasked with escorting a valuable item slated to be gifted to a powerful potential ally of the Pathfinder Society, but as they are being briefed on their mission, an unknown thief is pulling off a heist within Heidmarch manor, and the item the PCs were to escort has been stolen just as Venture-Captain Shiela Heidmarch goes to show them the item. The PCs must pick up the thief's trail in a race across Magnimar to recover the treasure they haven't even had the opportunity to see, much less guard.

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-07: Race for the Dustwarren Cup

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th- through 10th-level characters.

The Starfinder Society has been invited to participate in the inaugural Dustwarren Cup, a three-day boat race across the vast, shifting sand dunes of Akiton’s Dustwarren silt sea. Hosted by wealthy eccentric and retired racer Mimli Nurkop, scion of the fabulously wealthy Nurkop ysoki clan, the Dustwarren Cup boasts an impressive prize and is drawing plenty of attention—not all of it wanted. As Mimli and the other racers prepare to brave the elements, battle local wildlife, and outrace their competitors, a band of pirates plots to abduct the Nurkop heiress! Weigh anchor, hoist the sails, and set sail for adventure! The stakes are high in the Dustwarren Cup!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-04: Equal Exchanges — Necessary Introductions

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.

Since the defeat of Aslynn, the Waterfall has become more of a staple around the Grand Lodge, starting to hold strange, isolated meetings with leadership and seemingly putting together some plan. Her most recent request is that a team of Pathfinder agents journey to Hwanggot and meet with the underworld dragon, Valashinaz as an introductory team. Venture-Captain Yi Da Som arranged the meeting through Valashinaz's kobold assistant, Purepurin. Unfortunately, between then and the PCs arriving, Purepurin forgot about them in the midst of pickling recipes from goblins and creepy crawlies invading the vaults! It's up to the PCs to help Purepurin bring Valashinaz's vaults under control while she summons the dragon to ensure these introductions go off without a hitch!

Pathfinder Quest (Series 2) #15: In the Footsteps of Horror

A Pathfinder Society Quest designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters, playable in 2-3 hours.

A group of powerful Pathfinders had to abandon the exploration of an underground complex after defeating a powerful lich and stopping a devatating ritual by the skin of their teeth. The PCs are tasked with exploring this complex, now cleared of threats, and cataloging what's there. The ritual, though incomplete, has still linked the site to its counterpart in the Netherworld, and once they enter, the PCs find that their task will not be as simple or boring as promised, as they have to fight through the shadowy mirror of the Netherworld complex just to get back home, with unknown threats that most assuredly were not cleared out.

Browse all of our Foundry VTT products here, including the new volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path #195: Heavy is the Crown (Sky King’s Tomb 3 of 3). And don’t forget about our new Organized Play Scenario Season Passes, which give Organized Play scenarios the same deluxe treatment as our adventure paths!

Speaking of Organized Play, we’ve updated our Amazon apparel store to include new merchandise with this year’s new Organized Play logos and imagery! Take a moment to browse the wares of our online merchandise store.

We’re also excited to showcase some apparel options from our licensed partners! Pegasus Publishing recently debuted two designs—the Pathfinder Mirage Dragon and the Starfinder Captain Concierge—at Dragon Con and in their online store! Look forward to more licensed apparel designed by our art team through Pegasus Publishing coming soon!

Savage Sparrow, another of our licensed apparel designers, recently released a new Pathfinder goblin design—Dice Goblin! Along with the prior apparel from Savage Sparrow’s Kickstarter, available now online and at select conventions, these shirts are sure to be a hit!

Face the Whispering Tyrant! Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors now live!

A new roguelite survivor game set in the beloved fantasy world of Pathfinder. Enter Gallowspire, Pathfinder’s legendary tower of darkness, alongside your fearless companion. Slay hordes of enemies, upgrade your arsenal, and overcome deadly bosses to seal away the ancient king of undeath!

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20 are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API. Or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

Bring Pathfinder to where you are, in person or online, and if you don’t have a favorite local game store, get books delivered to your door via a Paizo Subscription! From rulebooks to adventures, accessories, and more, we’ve got subscriptions for every table! Subscribing to a line of books gets you the physical book and the PDF for one price! Subscribe to four lines or more to unlock Paizo Advantage savings on products site-wide!

Need some sound to spice up your table? Our partners at Syrinscape have a collection of Pathfinder and Starfinder soundtracks for your home game, streamed games, and more. New this month—Wight Boss Battle!

In celebration of The Glass Cannon Network’s new season, we’re running a special sale on the paranormal mystery-themed Pathfinder Dark Archive and the Gatewalkers Adventure Path! Get 10% off all physical, PDF, and Foundry VTT versions of these products with the code DarkGatePaizo, now through October 31st.

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Thank you for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

Hi everyone! James here to talk a little bit about the Remaster project. We're getting closer and closer to Pathfinder Player Core and GM Corereleasing in November. To shine a little more light on what's coming, the marketing team and us thought we would kick off a blog series going into some of our changes in a little more depth. We'll start things off with a class, the wizard!

The wizard is the classic arcane spellcaster who learns magic in the most academic way: institutions, tomes, tutors and the like, and we wanted this to come through in how the class feels to build and play, so expect to see some more references to training, incantations, runes, spell formulas, and the like in the feats and features.

Ezren, the iconic wizard. Art by Wayne Reynolds

While the wizard was generally already providing a satisfying play experience at the table, it was also a class that interacts very heavily with one of the larger changes we’re making in the Remaster, which is the removal of the eight schools of magic that were deeply tied to rules we were using via the OGL. Though this presented a big challenge in remastering the class, it also let us solve one of the biggest frustrations of the wizard, which is that there wasn't a whole lot of space left for them to expand. One of the most commonly requested expansions for any class is additional major paths to build your characters along, but because the wizard schools already had all eight schools of magic that could ever exist in the setting (plus universalist), we could never increase the number of wizard schools or explore more interesting options beyond those preset themes.

The new role for arcane schools is as just that: actual mages' curricula in Golarion. This allows us to make much more tightly focused schools that really let you sell the theme of your wizard, from the tactical spells of the School of Battle Magic (fireball, resist energy, weapon storm, true target and the like) to the infrastructure-focused spells of the School of Civic Wizardry (hydraulic push for firefighting, summon construct and wall of stone for construction, pinpoint and water walk for search and rescue, and earthquake and disintegrate for controlled demolitions). We've also rearranged the existing wizard focus spells and, in some places, changed them a little bit to fit their new locations—the School of Mentalism's charming push focus spell functions much like the original enchanter's charming words, but the new spell doesn't have the auditory or linguistic traits, since the School of Mentalism is much more about direct mind magic.

This also opens the door to create more schools in the future based on the specific schools of magic in the setting, and I know my colleagues in the Lost Omens line have already started thinking of what some of these might be (they have, as yet, sadly rejected my suggestion for a goblin-themed wizard school containing mostly fire and pickling spells).

We haven't just remastered the schools; we wanted to go through the feats as well and give the wizard a few fun toys to underscore how they're nerds their academic mastery of magic. Some of these are tools originally developed in other places that make perfect sense for a wizard to have, like the Knowledge Is Power magus feat (with a few wizard-specific adjustments). We also gave the wizards some new feats, like the following:

Secondary Detonation Array [one-action] Feat 14

Manipulate, Spellshape, Wizard

You divert some of your spell’s energy into an unstable runic array. If your next action is to Cast a Spell that deals damage, has no duration, and affects an area, a glowing magic circle appears in a 5-foot burst within that area. At the beginning of your next turn, the circle detonates, dealing 1d6 force damage per rank of the spell to all creatures within the circle, with a basic Reflex save against your spell DC. If the spell dealt a different type of damage, the circle deals this type of damage instead (or one type of your choice if the spell could deal multiple types of damage).

This feat ties into some of the flavor tweaks we've made to wizards to have them talk about their abilities a little more academically, and it's burst of damage is one that requires a little bit of forethought in strategy to get the most out of, something that a spellcaster whose key attribute is Intelligence might gravitate toward.

That's our look at the wizard! Of course, what would a wizard be without their spells? Check back in on Thursday, where we'll go over some of the updates to magic coming in the remaster, from new spells to some of the new rules for spellcasting!

James Case (he / him)
Senior Designer

L’shana tova!

September 15th at sundown marks the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of a new year, and the beginning of the High Holy Days for Jewish people. In celebration of the new year, we’ve gathered submissions from some of our Jewish employees and community members!

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James Beck (he/she/they)

And for my first action, I blow the shofar to inspire courage. Hello! My name is James Beck. I am a Jewish author who wrote for Lost Omens Firebrands (specifically the Fire’s Finest & Passenger). I felt at home to tell Jewish stories in Numeria as I related to the story of the androids and the struggles they went through with the Technic League. In my works either with Paizo or Eldritch Osiris Games, I try to bring in themes and values of Jewish culture that I grew up with such as tikun olam (repair the world). Pathfinder/Starfinder have greatly emphasized the idea of adventurers trying to make the world or universe a better place to live in. Jewish culture teaches us to be curious and to explore and I feel honored to be part of this community where I can explore different ideas and learn about all that has come before. Thank you Pathfinder and Starfinder community for giving me a chance to learn and grow not only as a writer but as a person as well. You can find me @geekjames513 on twitter!

Michael Bramnik (he/him)

Why is this knight different from all other knights? I know, I know—wrong holy day!

Hello there, and L’Shana Tova! I’m Michael Bramnik (https://canisdirus.carrd.co), a Jewish freelancer for Paizo and elsewhere in the industry. I’ve had the privilege of writing for Starfinder Enhanced and several other things this past year, but the one that stands out for me today is Pathfinder Society #4-05: The Arclord Who Never Was. Though far from being a universal opinion, I have heard firsthand that RPGs aren’t as popular in our communities because of things taken from Jewish myth or folklore and then “twisted.” The character Vrisk was my way of putting a positive spin on golems in RPGs to combat this—something I’m very proud of.

Beyond that, I’d like to offer something fun to help celebrate the new year. This probably won’t ever become PFS-legal, mind you, but maybe it could be a fun addition to your home game?

Ram's Horn
Uncommon, Concussive, Nonlethal, Propulsive
Price 10 gp; Damage 1d4 B; Bulk L
Hands 1; Range 10 ft.; Reload 0
Type Ranged; Category Simple; Group Brawling

Each of these eloquently-crafted horns curves in unique ways. They can play musical notes as well as rupture eardrums in combat through staccato blasts.

Rue Dickey (they/he/xe)

Wishing a happy new year to all of my fellow Jewish nerds—may your apples be crisp and the honey linger on your lips. As a practicing Jewish witch, I have a deep love for the spirituality of our religion and culture, and how the world’s cycles interact. Jewish ritual magic—for protection, for wellness, for family and love—inspires a lot of my design work when it comes to magic in fantasy games. It is equally important to get the sigils and designs right as it is to have the right thoughts held in your heart and mind while completing them. Rituals in Judaism are rooted in tradition, but like all aspects of our faith, are deeply personal, and every family—or even every person—might practice them slightly differently. No one ritual is correct, there is never only one answer—and there is always room for change. I love getting to incorporate this philosophy in my work, and remind everyone that questioning the world and “the way things are” is a vital part of living.

Avi Kool (they/them)

Hi all, Avi again, still here at Paizo, still Jewish. I’ve had the privilege of bringing a Jewish perspective to my work from my heritage as both an Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jew, and from my upbringing in Reform Judaism. This includes the opportunity to write characters inspired by my family history (see Arhan Benimaya in the Kraken’s Ink Tattoo section of Pathfinder Lost Omens Grand Bazaar), and I hope we can bring more aspects of Jewish folklore and history into Pathfinder as time goes on. I’m particularly interested in telling accurate folklore around Jewish monsters, because Judaism is full of monsters! Whether that be the terrifying “biblically accurate angels” (a misnomer, because these descriptions aren’t from the Bible originally, they’re from the Torah) or golems or the Leviathan, Jewish lore is bursting with material suited for TTRPGs. I’ve even recently been learning about the history of dragons in Judaism—believe it or not, many medieval Jewish manuscripts feature illustrations of dragons in the marginalia! They didn’t teach me about that in Hebrew school. There’s also the shedim, Judaism’s precursor to the Christian demons. Shedim are shapeshifters that can turn invisible, and it’s said that you could throw ashes to the ground to render their footsteps visible. I have also read that the tradition of using salt to ward off spirits originates in Judaism. As you can see, Jewish lore contains bountiful material to be adopted respectfully in TTRPGs, far beyond what we’ve seen published by any company. I might just write it myself!

Jacob W. Michaels (he/him)

Shana tova (happy New Year), Paizo community. I’m Jacob W. Michaels, one of Paizo's Jewish freelancers. I’ve gotten to work on a number of products for Paizo; this year, that includes the potions section in Pathfinder Treasure Vault, the Findeladlara article in Pathfinder Adventure Path #189: Dreamers of the Nameless Spires, and Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-11: Prisoners of the Electric Castle! Part of what I love about Judaism is our tradition of telling stories, and particularly stories that provide meaning. I like to think I bring that tradition to role-playing games. We tell stories together—and part of that is just for fun (though fun is 100% reason enough for some of the stories we tell together), but part of it reaches deeper. We build a sense of community through our stories, hopefully finding things we have in common, even when we live across the world from each other. Through these games, we find friendship. And I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Judaism in my work. May this coming year bring more sweetness, more joy, more games, and more time well spent together.

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For all those celebrating—Shana tova!

The roguelite bullet hell survivor launches into Steam Early Access today!

The Whispering Tyrant awaits… Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors has officially launched into Steam Early Access! Developed by BKOM Studios in partnership with Paizo, this roguelite bullet hell survivor game allows you to experience the renowned world of Golarion through a whole new lens. Arm-in-arm with a trusted ally, delve into Gallowspire and confront the legendary villain Tar-Baphon!

Within the depths of this gothic tower lies the disgraced lich-emperor Tar-Baphon, one of Pathfinder’s most ancient and powerful villains. While sealed away beneath his ancient seat of power, he has been deftly plotting his dark return. As the wards that contain him begin to fail, three fearless heroes will rise to the occasion, tasked with venturing into Gallowspire's depths to defeat Tar-Baphon and repair the wards that seal him away.

Take up arms as one of three daring heroes and battle through the horrors of Gallowspire. The Fighter, Wizard, or Rogue all come with their own strengths and talents that will aid their efforts against the disgraced lich. While they’re all skilled heroes, the task of sealing the Whispering Tyrant away is too much to bear alone. Choose an ally to fight alongside you as you slay hordes of Tar-Baphon’s undead minions, collect and upgrade your arsenal of spells and weapons, and extinguish Gallowspire’s unyielding bosses.

There will be many failures throughout your journey, but the heroes can escape death and grow stronger with each attempt by using the power of an ancient medallion. Only those who find the strength to break through Gallowspire may face the Whispering Tyrant himself. But one victory will not be enough to seal him away forever. The heroes must confront him over and over to buy Golarion the time it needs to prepare for Tar-Baphon’s seemingly inevitable return.

Fall, rise, and grow ever stronger… Face Gallowspire's hordes again and again—for as long as it takes!

Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors is now available on Steam Early Access for $6.99. Brave heroes can take advantage of a 20% launch discount for a limited time. Additionally, a special Bullet Hell Survivor Bundle with Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors, Soulstone Survivors, and 20 Minutes Till Dawn is available at a special 10% discount. Keep up to date with the game’s development by joining the official Discord server and following BKOM Studios on X.

Features:

• Choose your class: Fighter, Wizard, or Rogue. Each features unique talents, powers, and playstyles.
• Select a second hero to fight alongside you as a companion character.
• Run the gauntlet of Gallowspire! Overcome all four sections and their bosses to mark a successful run.
• Defeat enemies and collect their essence to obtain and upgrade your powers during the run.
• Earn experience to level up your heroes and spend talent points to permanently enhance and customize their powers.
• Collect and spend treasure to unlock permanent upgrades for all your heroes.
• Complete quests, defeat bosses, and battle the Whispering Tyrant himself.
• Customize your challenge level across 5 tiers of difficulty. The quest to contain Tar-Baphon is endless!

Hello, elementonauts! Pathfinder Rage of Elements has been out for a while now, and we hope you’ve been having a great time with your kineticists, elementals, travels to the elemental planes, and all sorts of new spells, items, and monsters. We wanted to take this chance to recognize the great authors who came together to make this project special.

This book was initially concepted by Mark Seifter (who you’ll hear from shortly) before he headed over to his current gig. I took over as the design lead to shepherd the book along. Most of my work was outlining, coordination, and a massive amount of changes to switch the book to the Remastered rules late in the process.

Before we get into everyone’s bios, I must talk about the contributions of Jessica Redekop and Sen H.H.S., who share cover credit with me. Getting that level of credit requires a massive amount of work, and they were both wonderful to work with and superb writers. Jess’s enthusiasm for the planes and building out fun characters made the book such a fun read, and Sen H.S.S.’s ideas for putting the elemental cycle into the game and Pathfinder setting and creating the Plane of Wood were invaluable and incredibly creative. I’d also like to shout out Paizo’s own Andrew White, who brought the Plane of Metal to life, and James Case, who plunged into the Plane of Water with aplomb. And Kent Hamilton’s beautiful concept art for elemental metal and wood helped guide designs throughout the process, especially of monsters and locations.

In addition to the authors with full bios below, this book features excellent writing by Jason Bulmahn, James Case, Jessica Catalan, Andrew D. Geels, Luis Loza, Michael Sayre, Shay Snow, Levi Steadman, Mari Tokuda, and Linda Zayas-Palmer!

Logan Bonner
Pathfinder Lead Designer

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Illustration by Lucas Melo

Logan Bonner (he/him)

(That’s me.) I’ve been designing tabletop RPGs since 2006, and am the Pathfinder Lead Designer, doing overwatch on the game rules as a whole. Lately I’ve been blooding, sweating, and tearing the Pathfinder Remaster books. After being one of the four designers of Second Edition, I’ve led Pathfinder Secrets of Magic to help set the template for how we could stretch our legs with rulebooks in Second Edition, and later led Pathfinder Book of the Dead, the remastered books, and at least one upcoming, unannounced tome. My biggest writing contribution to Rage of Elements was the kineticist class (with some expert help from the rest of the design team, so you can blame/thank Michael Sayre for the Ambush Bladderwort). You can find me on Twitter as @loganbonner and on Bluesky as @loganbonner.bsky.social.

Patrick Hurley

Along with previous Paizo publishing credits, Patrick Hurley has had short fiction appear in dozens of magazines and book anthologies, including Factor Four, Galaxy's Edge, Abyss & Apex, and New Myths. As well as being managing editor at Paizo, Patrick is a graduate of the 2017 Taos Toolbox Writer's Workshop and a member of SFWA. To read more of Patrick's stories, check out his author website: www.patrickhurleywrites.com.

Jason Keeley (he/him)

Hi folks, I'm Jason Keeley and I'm excited to have contributed even a small part to Rage of Elements. I've recently returned to Paizo as a Senior Developer for the Rules & Lore team, which means that all I've written for Pathfinder Second Edition has been training for this time! When I'm not doing things for Paizo, I spend my time recording a couple of podcasts in the Know Direction network, collaborating with Joe Pasini on puzzles, and generally working on other TTRPG projects—like my cereal mascot game This Compleat Breakfast, available for free at https://herzwesten.itch.io/this-compleat-breakfast! You can usually find me under the name "herzwesten" on most social media platforms.

Jon Morgantini

Hello there! I'm Jon, the Community and Social Media Manager here at Paizo. My work was focused on creatures of air and earth for Pathfinder Rage of Elements. It was my first freelance writing opportunity and it was so much fun! It's been very heartening to see the reaction to the book from everyone. I definitely have other projects coming down the line so you will just have to keep an eye out for my name in other places! When I'm not writing, I'm usually lost in Hyrule or perhaps some far corner of the galaxy, if not rereading the Wheel of Time series or whatever the dark fantasy du jour is. You can find me @loremasterjon over on Bluesky, where I soon hope to pontificate about writing my own Pathfinder Second Edition–compatible setting. In the meantime, play ALL the games!

AJ Neuro (he/him and they/them)

Pura Vida! I'm AJ, a Costa Rican game designer. Writing the elemental backgrounds for Rage of Elements was my first official contribution to Pathfinder, but I've also written for the recently announced Pathfinder War of Immortals! A few of you might have also seen some of my free resources for the Pathfinder community. I'm also a professional GM, and I run both official Pathfinder Second Edition adventures on Golarion, and adventures of my own making in my setting of Ex Nihilo! If you'd like to join one of my groups, or would like me to GM for your group, don't be shy and shoot me a message. By the way, we're actually a DID system, but we generally prefer to present as an individual; it's just easier for us (waves at all the other plurals reading this) :)

Illustration by Ivan Koritarev

Jessica Redekop (she/they/he)

Hello! I'm Jess, and I like elementals, the planes, and the elemental planes. I got to write a lot of Rage of Elements (enough to get my name on the cover!) but my favorite section is the introduction to the air chapter, with the mercurial air narrator, Shanaria.

I love this book and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to write such a large portion of it. A book focused on the elemental planes, giving them the compelling and interesting presentation they've always deserved, is like my ultimate dream project. It's weird to feel so early in my career but to have already achieved something so monumental and important to me. I hope Rage of Elements helps to open the elemental planes in your games as fun, cool places your characters want to explore!

When I'm not writing, you can find me on the Know Direction podcast network as a cohost of Legend Lore and cast member on Tavern Rats, a new actual play. On the social medias, I'm @tectonomancer.bsky.social.

Mark Seifter

Hi everyone, Mark Seifter here! For those who don't know me, I've been the design lead on over 100 tabletop RPG game titles and worked on even more for Paizo and various other companies in the tabletop RPG industry, and I was one of the four leads on the creation of Pathfinder Second Edition.

I love writing about elemental options, and in Rage of Elements, I especially enjoyed working on the elemental eidolon, which I hope gives you a fun and different playstyle than the existing options. I also authored the Lysianassa deity entry, the aether and void sidebar in the introduction (which turned out even more interesting with the advent of void damage), and more! I hope you enjoyed them.

You can check out my Twitch stream, Arcane Mark, with Linda Zayas-Palmer at twitch.tv/arcanemark and the Roll for Combat Live stream with Stephen Glicker at www.youtube.com/@RollForCombat.

Sen H.H.S.

Hi all! Sen H.H.S. here and long time no see! Working as the cultural consultant and cover author of Rage of Elements was a wild ride, and I'm delighted that everyone is enjoying the book. I hope to hear your stories about your adventures in the returning Planes of Metal and Wood sometime in the near future. As a cover author, I worked on a little bit on everything, from some metal, wood, earth, fire, and water spells and items, to the four elemental lords Ayrzul, Kelizandri, Laudinmio, and Shumunue. I also did the introductions for the Plane of Wood and the Churn of Elements, plus creatures such as the nightwood guardian, ore louse, marajau, and some fire elementals. (Lava otters are the best!) I hope all of those help make your upcoming planar adventures all the more exciting! As for what's coming up, please mark your calendars for the Season of Ghosts Adventure Path, which begins with Pathfinder Adventure Path #196: The Summer That Never Was at the end of this year! You can find me nowadays on Bluesky at @senhhs.bsky.social or you can see what I'm retweeting on Twitter @SenHHS. My website is https://senhhs.carrd.co/.

Illustration by Ivan Koritarev

Shahreena Shahrani (she/her)

Marhaba everyone! I’m Shahreena and I've been freelancing for Paizo for about five years. Rage of Elements was a particularly exciting project to work on, as I was not only involved as a writer, but also as a cultural consultant. I was inspired by the creative muse in pre-Islamic poetic traditions to create gennayn; by stories of nightmarish spirits to contribute to jaathoom; by Middle Eastern hospitality to create faydhaan shuyookhs; and by the storyteller Shahrazaad, from Alf Layla wa Layla, or 1001 Nights, to develop Shazathared.

Beyond writing, I helped reconceptualize the genies. You may have noticed the cleanup of similar-sounding genie names, new genie lore and abilities more engaged with folklore, and old genie names changed to theme-appropriate names. (As someone raised in a Muslim household, I was especially happy to contribute to the removal of “shaitan” for earth genie!) I also engaged in Arabic grammatical discussions on nonbinary terms of address in search of ways to address genie nobles—fun times! I hope you enjoy these genies as much as I enjoyed working on them.

If you're looking for a Middle East specialist for freelance work, feel free to contact me on Discord at Shahreena1.

Solomon St. John (they/them)

Greetings internet. I go by Sol day-to-day and, in addition to being one of the freelancers who contributed to Rage of Elements, I was also the editing lead, a role I also fill for both Pathfinder and Starfinder Society over in Organized Play.

Versatile heritages are one of my favorite features in all of Pathfinder Second Edition, so I leapt at the chance to write the talos heritage; I also wrote the accompanying creature stat block, the section on zuhra genies, and all of the wood elementals from wood wisps to the twins of rowan. That last bunch was especially fun, since I could draw inspiration from all sorts of places—from wooden dolls and obscure folklore like the vegetable lamb, to clonal organisms like the IRL “trembling giant” and the existential concept of growth itself. It’s my largest Paizo writing contribution to date and I’m delighted you all finally get to enjoy the fruits of our hard work.

My next Paizo project is just around the corner, so keep an eye out for Starfinder Society Scenario #6-07: Race for the Dustwarren Cup. Find me online @stjohnsol.bsky.social for a quiet feed of reblogs and cat photos.

illustration by Zach Causey

Ruvaid Virk

Hiya folks! My name's Ruvaid, and I've been a writer for Paizo for a little while now. You might have seen some of my past work like the alter ego archetype from Pathfinder Dark Archive, the retrieval prism talisman, or a large part of the Niswan entry for Jalmeray in Pathfinder Lost Omens Impossible Lands. It was a blast working on Rage of Elements with a lot of awesome people. This time, I got to really light the spark of imagination to bring you the entry for Ymeri, Queen of the Inferno, some of the new fire spells (like one where you can summon a bunch of fire ants at someone), a giant metal puzzle cube (the pelegox), and a fiery barbecue spitmaster (the brochmaw, who is also unofficially named Chimothy Chunger). If you want to see more of me and my work, I'm on Twitter (for now) @Darth_Ruvaider and BlueSky @darthruvaider.bsky.social.

Andrew White (he/him)

Hello! I’m Andrew, full-time member of Paizo’s tech team (and, lately, project coordinator for a bunch of Paizo’s virtual tabletop projects, most notably our premium Foundry adventure modules) and freelance contributor to 15+ Pathfinder and Starfinder releases that you know about so far, including Pathfinder Secrets of Magic, Pathfinder Book of the Dead, the upcoming Pathfinder Howl of the Wild, Starfinder One-Shot #2:The Great Grav-Train Robbery, and Starfinder Adventure: Drift Crisis Case Files. Rage of Elements was one of my favorite projects to date, and I had an absolute blast (this is not a kineticist joke, unless you want it to be) writing the lore of the Plane of Elemental Metal, its thirteen new elementals, and its divine reality-munching isopod Ferrumnestra, the Lady of Rust. You can find me on Twitter at @plaguecontrol (or Twitter-but-not-on-fire at @plaguecontrol.bsky.social), or you can listen to the Elemental Metal playlist that I made just for you at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6BahPTNUQjId2OIurnKMrJ.

Hello, finders of (digital) paths and stars!

As you may have heard, we recently announced our intention to provide full support for both Pathfinder Society’s Year of Unfettered Exploration and the Starfinder Society’s Year of Fortune’s Fall on Foundry Virtual Tabletop. If you’ve had the opportunity to check out one of our premium Adventure Path modules or our first foray into Pathfinder and Starfinder Society support earlier this year, you might know what this entails, but what if you haven’t? Also, what’s with all of these different versions? What’s a Deluxe Edition? An Asset Pack? Settle down there, hypothetical question asker, and allow us to answer those inquiries with words and screenshots.

Browse all Foundry Virtual Tabletop products here!

First, let’s talk about the plethora of cool features you get from every Paizo Foundry module (most developed by our good friends at Sigil Services). Included with each module, you’ll find detailed, high-resolution maps for every encounter, pre-rigged with walls, lighting, and ambient sound effects. You’ll find custom battle tokens for every monster and NPC appearing in any scenario, even those without art in the published adventure. You’ll find a suite of powerful macros to automate hazards, scene transitions, audio triggers, and more—our Organized Play modules even include macros to automatically place tokens on the battlefield and scale your encounters to challenge parties of any size and level, as well as full support for Society boons and printable Chronicle Sheets for recording and reporting your Society-legal escapades.

Each of our Organized Play Foundry modules is a single purchase that will grant you support for every adventure released so far in the season, with more automatically added in free updates as they release in PDF format. That means that if you buy our full-season Pathfinder Society module today, it will include only the first two scenarios, but by the time the season wraps up next year, it’ll contain all 20. If you’re not ready to commit to a full year of content up front, that’s OK; we’re also offering modules that only grant the scenarios released during the first (or latter) half of the season.

We’re also offering different versions of each module to cater to different audiences. When we released our first Starfinder and Pathfinder Society modules at PaizoCon, we released them as “asset packs” that contained all of the tokens, maps, and other goodies but didn’t include the actual adventures, allowing us to offer them more cheaply to players who already had the PDFs or preferred to purchase them separately (or who weren’t interested in Society Play at all and just wanted a collection of prepped high-quality maps and tokens to incorporate into their own campaigns). We’re still offering that option, but by popular demand, we’re alsooffering each module in a “deluxe edition” that bakes in everything you need to run the adventures, including every scenario converted into a beautifully styled journal that’s been fully integrated with all of the supplementary content from the asset pack. For just $2.50 more than the cost of a Society PDF ($1.50 if you grab the whole season at once), you’ll get everything you need to run your games with the click of a mouse—zero setup required!

Sounds cool, right? Want to see them in action? Well, good news: we’ll be showcasing these awesome offerings in two upcoming live-streamed sessions GMed by esteemed Paizo developer and virtual tabletop veteran Jason Keeley (dates TBD). First we’ll have a group of adventurers played by Paizo employees Katina Davis, Emma Simpson, Rue Dickey, and Jackson Wood as they try not to get themselves killed playing through Pathfinder Society 5-01: Year of Unfettered Exploration. And then following that, a different group played by Sol St. John, Dustin Knight, Jenny Jarzabski, and Jessica Catalan will also try not to die, but in space, as they help choose a new First Seeker in Starfinder Society Scenario 6-06: Tomorrow's Seekers!

We’re super proud of our first-party Foundry VTT content, but that’s not the only way to play Pathfinder and Starfinder online. If you prefer another platform, don’t worry – there’s a ton of Paizo content to choose from on Roll20, Fantasy Grounds, Alchemy RPG, and nearly every other virtual tabletop out there, with more being added every day.

Excited? So are we! The future’s looking bright for Paizo content on virtual tabletops, and we’re all looking forward to bringing you lots more of it in the near future!

OPC Musings

Happy September! Objectively the best month of the year, and I’m not biased because it’s my birth month. With the change to fall comes a much shorter monthly update. Traditionally the winter is a quieter time for us in Organized Play, but there’s still plenty going on!

September and October are big months for local conventions, so check out our conventions calendar to find one near you! I’ve already attended Dragonflight in Bellevue, WA and Gateway in Los Angeles, and I’m looking forward to SkålCon in Minneapolis at the end of the month. After that, we’ll be knuckling down on the Pathfinder Remaster and getting ready for…pitching next year’s Starfinder and Pathfinder Society storylines? Already?!?

Digital Adventure Releases

These adventures will be available on September 27, 2023.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-03: Heidmarch Heist*
Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-04: Equal Exchanges – Necessary Introductions*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-07: Race for the Dustwarren Cup*

*part of a subscription

It’s Called Fashion, Agents

We’re excited to announce some new apparel for all our Pathfinders and Starfinders! The logos for the Year of Unfettered Exploration and Year of Fortune’s Fall have been added to our Amazon store, along with the Paizo Organized Play logo. We’re working on getting these added to our main Amazon landing page, but for now the links below should take you to where you need to go.

Remember that wearing these shirts, hoodies or tote bags qualifies you for the Vestments boon in the Accessory Perks!

Pathfinder Society Year of Unfettered Exploration

Starfinder Society Year of Fortune’s Fall

Organized Play Logo

Sanctioning Updates

All’s pretty quiet on the sanctioning front this month! We’re in an unusual lull between our big Gen Con releases and the Q4 major releases of Starfinder Enhanced and the Pathfinder Remaster.

We do have one update to the Starfinder Society Character Options, however: the blessing of youth spell is now available for all precogs! This spell may only be cast from spell slots, not purchased in spell gems or similar consumables. Precog characters who wish to swap in this spell may do so the next time they level up as normal.

Pathfinder and Starfinder Society on Foundry VTT

At long last, adaptations of our Organized Play adventures are now available on Foundry VTT! The modules are available in two forms: an asset pack, which just contains the map images and tokens, and a deluxe version, which also includes the full adventure text in beautifully-styled journals.

Stay tuned to the Paizo blog for more news on how you can see these in action very soon!

First Seeker Election

The election for the Starfinder Society’s next First Seeker continues apace! Ballots are starting to roll in from all over the world and, I’ve gotta tell you, the race is neck and neck (and neck and neck). Remember that ballots close on October 31, so get out there and play SFS #6-06: Tomorrow’s Seekers to meet the candidates!

GM Recognition

Campaign Service Coins

This month, two new Campaign Service Coins were awarded to volunteers at local conventions. We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay@paizo.com with their name and reasons.

Congratulations to:
Joel Hager, who now holds a Campaign Coin and OP ID #900
and Cy Merriex, who now holds a Campaign Coin and OP ID #902

GM Ranks

Whether stars, novas, or glyphs, achieving a 5 ranking in any program involves a substantial amount of time. To achieve the 5th milestone, a GM must run 150 games, of which at least 50 must be unique scenarios and 10 special scenarios, and run between one and three games for venture-captains (program dependent). A conservative estimate of the time needed to reach the 5th milestone is 650 hours!

This month, we had two GMs earn their 5th Glyph for Pathfinder Society (second edition).

5th Glyph (PFS2): Terry T, Robert Wiesehuegel

Until next time: Explore! Report! Cooperate! And say hi to Purepurin for me!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

TabletopTown and Paizo are teaming up to put Pathfinder (and Starfinder) in your pocket. Coming in the fall of this year, TabletopTown is a mobile platform designed for the asynchronous play of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) of all sorts, and this partnership will allow players and game masters access to the Paizo library through the marketplace, an in-app location for users to find and sell games, characters, and stories.

TabletopTown stands behind Paizo’s commitment to open gaming through the Open RPG Creative (ORC) License. The TabletopTown marketplace supports user-generated content and indie creators alike, allowing them to buy, sell, and share content freely, openly, and ethically. TabletopTown is fully system agnostic, and with its creator tools at their disposal, designers can build and share their games, modules, and characters, no coding experience necessary. Find new games and worlds to explore or visit familiar favorites like Golarion and Absalom Station!

Paizo’s worlds are rich with deep lore, intricate mechanics, and elaborate world building that goes beyond a scribble on a notes app during a tabletop session. Celebrate the details that make your game unique with searchable indexes, easy to reference descriptions, and intuitive content organization.

All of Paizo’s adventures will be available to buy and explore in the app, opening up new worlds and stories for game masters to investigate and make their own. With access to Pathfinder and Starfinder, game masters can quickly pull entries from their respective bestiaries and bring strange and mystical creatures like a Pleroma to life with all its stats, descriptions, and avatars added in a single tap. It’s easy to use and, for the game master, easy to depict!

With the entire ruleset at their fingertips, players can enjoy as much rules lawyering as they want to, or they can avoid cluttering the chat with things that would usually require looking up in a table of contents.

At launch, beginning players will have a variety of prebuilt character sheets at their disposal; this way, grandma’s desire to play a juggernaut champion doesn’t require pages of research! More experienced players can build out their own intricate lore and stat blocks with existing game mechanics for the skeleton of the character. Those players can then add modifications whenever they like, making use of home-brewed rules to get the details just right!

Here’s a look behind the scenes at Paizo’s internal playtests.

Welcome to the second blog following up on the recent announcement of Starfinder Second Edition. You can read the first blog here!

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Thurston Hillman, the Managing Creative Director for Starfinder. Basically, that means that I guide the creative vision for the Starfinder brand, while also managing the great folks who work on the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Today, as we continue our open playtest experience, I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at some of the internal playtesting we’ve been doing here at Paizo!

As a heads up, the playtests I’m talking about here took place before our Gen Con announcement, so I’m sure the online discourse about the new edition has already been buzzing. Sorry I can’t capitalize on any memes yet.

So up until this point, the team had been doing some immediate stress tests of new classes under the GMing stewardship of our Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn. These involved some themed adventures about a starship that went too cloze to the Horizon of an Event, or a deadly jungle encounter where we learned the creature hunting us could bleed and so we could kill it. The playtests we’re reviewing here take place after those, bypassing some of our rockier initial class design, and instead focused on exploring some other aspects of Starfinder in a new game engine.

Playtest #2: Blackpowder Guns in My Space Adventure?!

Map:Starfinder Flip-Mat: Drift Crisis
Character Level: 5th

This second playtest, once again GM’d by myself and attended by the same group of PCs, happened a week after the previous test and involved a SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST. The goal of the second playtest was to test out some issues we’d discovered in our prior playtests. We also decided to add a guest player:

• Gunslinger: Michael Sayre (Pathfinder Rules & Lore Manager)

Yes, today’s test was to see how a Pathfinder gunslinger (from Guns & Gears) would operate in a Starfinder party and get a sense of the relative playstyles and power levels. Michael was gracious enough to give us a few hours of his time and bring in his esteemed character, Griestly Peppercorn, a Way of the Sniper gunslinger to work alongside Jessica’s operative sniper. Also, Griestly had heard that we were “fightin’ space fascists” and suddenly travelled through time to help. Just normal Starfinder things.

This fight had the PCs travelling through relatively narrow 10-foot hallways and engaging in some medium to long-range firefights with more of the Aeon Guard. The first encounter involved battling yet more Aeon Guard troops with laser rifles, though this time they were supported by a hovering drone.

The players deployed really strong tactics, with the soldier once again providing some mobile cover and firing area weapons to suppress foes. The mystic used their Song connection ability to provide an Inspire Courage-esque buff to the group, and the witchwarper tossed in damage spells while using their aura to provide a speed buff to allies starting inside their aura. The operative had some middling rolls this playtest game, but still managed to provide long-range support in the form of consistent damage and occasional debuffs (like a very useful clumsy condition that stacked well with a lot of other effects going on).

Then there was the gunslinger. I don’t know about y’all, but I think this Pathfinder game has some really powerful classes. They might need to look at how they balance things over on that side of the digital cubicle. 😉

OK, maybe it’s just me being a bit salty, because Michael’s gunslinger opened with a critical of 31 damage against the Aeon Guard drone. This explosive opening was then followed by the gunslinger using the Soldier as mobile cover to perform a covering reload and then unleashing more shots into the drone, which quickly ended it. Then on his next turn, a follow-up charge with a bayonet into close melee (something the operative avoided doing as they stayed back to take long-range shots) put the gunslinger in the thick of things and provided an opportunity to deal out a 47 damage critical on a backshot against one of the troops. With the drone down, the remaining Aeon Guards didn’t really stand much of a chance against the party’s onslaught.

That’s when I pulled out the big guns and went right into the next encounter, with only a few rounds of rest in-between. The next fight opened with an immense Aeon Guard robot, which trundled down the halls and fired a line weapon that dealt 25 damage to both casters and 50 to the soldier. For reference, our witchwarper had 36 Hit Points total, and the soldier only had 83. Area of effect weapons will be common in Starfinder, and positioning is going to be key.

Then Michael decided his anachronistic gunslinger needed to crit again. Half of the robot’s health disappeared. I’m not bitter. No, not me. Never.

At this point, the team had started reconsidering our earlier assessment that the operative might be overtuned, based on the gunslinger’s sheer damage output and ability to take multiple shots in a round—Starfinder sniper weapons currently have an unwieldy trait that prevents repeated firing each round, giving them the feel of really meaty single shot weapons that you want to plan your turn around.

But then, Michael got greedy. He fired again. He misfired. Goodbye, arquebus.

Suddenly, the whole combat dynamic shifted as the fight became a struggle for life and death as the spellcasters tried to work out how to best handle the robot. For reference, the Aeon Guard robot was essentially a retooled golem statblock that replaced magic immunity with a 40-foot line ice gun it could fire with two actions. This necessitated some tactics of hiding in hall alcoves and positioning farther away to avoid being hit, in the operative’s case.

After taking out the supporting Aeon Guards, the group turned their attention to the robot, who had now cut the gunslinger off from the others and had him in a corner. As a massive fangblade bore down on the poor time-displaced gunslinger, my dice betrayed me, and I landed two critical misses and a miss. This stay of execution gave the team all the time they needed to bring their arsenal of abilities online and take the robot down with a stream of constant (albeit resistance-reduced) damage and debuffs.

One standout moment of the session played out a few rounds before this, as the gunslinger took a blow from the robot and was in desperate need of healing, but the mystic’s vitality network was tapped out. Luckily, the mystic had a spell just for that: motivating ringtone. This in-testing spell currently works akin to the soothe spell, but it plays off the mystic ringing your comm unit and causing an uplifting tune to play that restores Hit Points and provides a save bonus as long as the song continues. Sadly, there was one problem with this strategy for our time-travelling friend, as Dustin soon realized and shouted, “OH NO! The gunslinger doesn’t have a cellphone!” Again, normal Starfinder things.

Our test with the gunslinger was revealing. It provided the team more details on some of our new spells that we’d want to tweak or get tighter verbiage on. It gave us a better look at how cover interacts with tactics in our game, especially in those iconic hallway fights where PCs are going to use corners and allies for impromptu cover. Finally, it let us see how the operative and gunslinger would work together in a party. Overall, the experience went better than we hoped, as the gunslinger felt more like a class that could spike good rolls and flirt with danger by taking extra shots and risking misfires, while the operative was firing single shots each round but generally putting out consistent damage without the risk of losing their weapon—Jessica’s terrible rolls this session notwithstanding.

The team left this second playtest with lots of notes and ideas, but overall, with a sense that these two games really can work together and provide some fun and dynamic ways to play. On the design front, we realized new ways to combine the strengths of tried-and-true Pathfinder mechanics and the brand new mechanics we’re designing for this new edition of Starfinder. Thanks again to Michael Sayre for taking a moment to jump into the future and help us perform this outlandish playtest with a time-displaced gunslinger!

Stay tuned to this space for more behind-the-scenes looks at our playtests, news about our ongoing releases, and discussions about Starfinder Second Edition!

Thurston Hillman
Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)

A war is brewing and all of existence will be drawn into the conflict! As gods die, new gods arise, and Golarion itself bucks and twists under the pressure of immortal powers vying for dominance, we introduce two new classes with their own roles to play in these colossal battles.

The animist is a Wisdom-based divine spellcasting class that bonds with apparitions, ephemeral spirits who share their power and knowledge with the animist in exchange for the animist acting as their agent with the physical world. Bond with a Steward of Stone and Fire to add primal power to your spellcasting, make a pact with an Impostor in Hidden Places to gain access to sneaky and deceptive magics, or allow a Witness to Ancient Battles possess you and lend its martial talents to your repertoire! If you’re interested in playing a wise spellcaster who can change their abilities each day— or even moment to moment—based on the spiritual entities they align themselves with, be sure to playtest the animist!

The exemplar is our first rare class, a Charisma-based divine warrior possessing their own spark of divinity. The exemplar can move their divine spark between receptacles called ikons to unlock potent effects and abilities. As your power grows, you create your own epithet that defines your immortal legacy; whether you become a Cunning exemplar who’s Restless as the Tides and known to be a Thief of Moonlight, or a Brave exemplar, who’s Peerless Under Heaven and destined to be The Last Ruler of an ancient kingdom, is up to you! If you’re interested in playing a demigod destined for greatness and inspired by mythological figures like Maui, Cú Chulainn, and Hercules, be sure to playtest the exemplar!

Illustrations by Wayne Reynolds

This playtest will run for one month, beginning September 1 (today!), and continuing through October 2, 2023. In addition to playtesting these classes in your home games, you’ll be able to try them out in our organized play program by making your own Pathfinder Society characters using the rules located in the Guide to Organized Play. The exemplar class and all related options are available to all players during this playtest.

Our friends at Demiplane are also hosting a free character builder for the animist and exemplar classes, available at www.pathfindernexus.com/playtest, for those of you interested in taking advantage of their digital toolset to generate your characters.

Once you’ve had a chance to get a feel for the new classes, please be sure to leave your feedback at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WarofImmortalsClassSurvey and https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WarofImmortalsOpenResponse to let us know what you think of them and where you think they could be improved! We’ll also have dedicated playtest forums here on paizo.com to discuss these classes and options with your peers. We’re looking forward to hearing what you have to say!

Check Out The Playtest!

Michael Sayre
Design Manager

James Case
Senior Designer

You think they’re just cards? Just pictures and words good for gambling or faking townsfolk out of a few coppers? Go on and think that—I don’t mind. My cards know where you’ve been and where you’re going. And it’s not pretty. Not at all. So, walk away. Or stop and learn to turn the few remaining pages of the story of your life into a novel worth the telling. Or don’t. After all, they’re only cards.
—Riana, Varisian harrower

THE HARROW DECK

Harrow is a tarot-like deck usable in everyday life or in any roleplaying game. Regardless of where you use it, use it with care. A harrow deck is loaded with power, so you must learn to read the cards correctly or else suffer an ignominious fate. The most important thing is to treat your harrow deck with respect. Disrespect the deck, and the deck will disrespect you. That way surely leads to ruin. You don’t want ruin, do you? You want to know how to read these cards.

Before you conduct a reading, set the stage for a dramatic encounter. Clear the table and place the deck in front of you.

The reading is conducted in two parts: first you’ll perform the choosing, and then you’ll perform the spread.

The Choosing

Ask your subjects—those who come to you for a reading—what they seek from it. Phrase the request in the form of a single question, then decide which of the six following abilities best suits that question. For example, a question of health might indicate the suit of Shields (Constitution), while a question regarding love might indicate the suit of Crowns (Charisma). Ultimately, it is up to you to choose which suit most fits—a question regarding love could just as well draw upon the suit of Stars (Wisdom), for example.

ABILITIES AND SOME CORRESPONDING TOPICS

Hammers (Strength): Battle, honor, cruelty

Keys (Dexterity): Children, risks, trouble

Shields (Constitution): Health, home, pain

Books (Intelligence): Money, secrets, stories

Stars (Wisdom): Faith, morality, trust

Crowns (Charisma): Family, love, politics

Remove the nine cards of the suit you have chosen from the harrow deck and shuffle those nine. Spread the cards you chose face down in front of you. Instruct your subject(s) to each pick one card. The chosen card has a message for that person about their current place in the world and in relation to the question at hand.

The Spread

The spread is laid out in a three-by-three grid of nine cards.

When interpreting the cards, each one’s placement in the spread determines whether it relates to the past, present, or future. The placement also tells the harrower if the card should be interpreted in a positive, unclear, or negative light. The following table shows the placements and their alignments and meanings.

	Lawful	Neutral	Chaotic
Good	positive past	positive present	positive future
Neutral	unclear past	unclear present	unclear future
Evil	negative past	negative present	negative future

A SAMPLE HARROWING

Merisiel has come to Riana for a reading. Riana calms herself as Merisiel asks her whether her plans to marry Kyra are good ones. Riana thinks on what type of question this is, and decides that it best fits Charisma.

She takes the nine Charisma cards out of the deck and carefully shuffles them for the choosing. She then spreads them out, facedown, in front of her. Merisiel takes one and turns it over—it is the Empty Throne. Riana tells Merisiel that this role card represents her place in relation to the question. Merisiel has felt love before, but it has often vanished, leaving behind a vacancy that aches as much as a nation without a leader—yet just as a nation still needs leadership, so too does the heart need one to love.

With that done, Riana puts the Charisma cards back into the deck and shuffles. She then deals out nine cards, face down, in the three-by-three pattern of the spread. Riana starts by turning over the three cards in the left column—those that represent the past. The cards revealed are, from top to bottom, the Owl, the Marriage, and the Cricket.

Riana checks to see if there are any true matches in this column. There is one: appropriately enough, the Marriage. It is a lawful neutral card in the lawful neutral placement in the spread. Riana contemplates the meaning of this card to the question. Since Merisiel’s question is about a wedding, the card is especially meaningful. Riana tells Merisiel that since this card appears in the past, it represents the strength of her existing relationship with Kyra, suggesting in a way that they have been wedded in soul all along. Since there are no other true matches, Riana moves on.

She turns over the three cards in the middle, representing the present. Top to bottom, she sees the Unicorn, the Dance, and the Tangled Briar. None of them are true or opposite matches. Thus, Riana looks for partial matches. She finds two. The Unicorn matches the good aspect of the top middle space, while the Tangled Briar matches the evil in the lower middle space. Riana looks at the Unicorn and tells Merisiel that the marriage has the potential of bringing great happiness. The Tangled Briar warns that something in her past may bring conflict to the wedding—but as the card appears in the middle column (and is associated with the present), the potential conflict it warns of can be dealt with if things are taken care of soon—before the wedding takes place

With that, Riana turns over the final three cards in the spread, those representing the future. Here she finds, top to bottom, the Tyrant, the Silent Hag, and the Keep. She finds no true matches, but there is one exact opposite: The Tyrant, a lawful evil card in the chaotic good placement. The Tyrant in this placement is misaligned, and indicates a tyrant overthrown. In this case, Riana believes it means that the danger represented by The Tangled Briar will be overcome, and that the wedding will be strong and last for many years—provided the danger itself is not allowed to fester beyond the present day.

Merisiel vows to confront this lingering danger and to confide in Kyra by confessing her past association with criminal elements in the city of Magnimar—where the wedding is scheduled to take place. With these shameful secrets revealed to her love, Merisiel hopes to rely upon Kyra’s support, should the danger the cards warn of come to pass. Riana smiles.

SINGLE CARD HARROWINGS

As a fun community exercise, and to show off the versatility of the Harrow Deck across RPGs, I asked people to tell me a little bit about their player characters and ask a question. I’ve selected a handful of these responses to do single card harrow pulls and interpretations. Thank you to everyone who shared their characters with me!

I have also decided to show off a few different ways to do single card readings – some of which are covered in the Harrow Deck manual, and some of which are taken from traditional cartomancy.

Harrow Rulebook Method (Choosing)

For the following two readings, I used the Choosing method described in the Harrow Deck Rulebook. For these readings, we determine which ability the question falls under, take the cards of the correct suit out, and draw from among those nine cards. When shuffling, I turned the cards around several times, so that some could be upright and some could be reversed.

Sebastian (they/them) asked about their drow chronomancer and artificer, Ptemfuzhi (he/she), who is entering her anger stage of trauma. They ask: What should he do about the people who hurt him?

Because the question pertains to past cruelty and trauma, I chose Hammers (Strength) and shuffle the cards, and spread them out. Pulling out a card and flipping it over, I got The Cyclone in reverse (or misaligned, as the book calls it).

The Cyclone misaligned indicates renewal after a difficult trial. Though your life may seem strewn among the wreckage, you can rebuild and emerge stronger than before. The best revenge against those who hurt you is to live your best life in spite of them.

Austin (he/him) asked about Qhirc, his kobold curse witch and potion maker. He asks: Our party has just lost a member. How should we go about finding a new face while honoring the fallen?

Because the question relates to party dynamics, which are a kind of found family, I chose to do a Crowns (Charisma) harrowing. Laying the cards out, I pulled The Empty Throne upright.

Upright, The Empty Throne denotes a powerful sense of loss – but reminds us that those who are gone never truly leave us. The loss of your party member can weigh heavy on you, and you should allow yourself the time and space to grieve, but don’t linger overlong. Take what you learned from them and use it to build an even stronger relationship with whoever comes next.

Single Card Deck Style

The following two harrowings are done in the deck style – all of the cards are shuffled together, and the top card of the deck is drawn for each reading. As with the Choosing method, I made sure to turn the cards around between shuffling, to ensure that some are reversed.

Nala (they/them) asked about Viridian (she/they), their Ventrue vampire who is cut off from their sire due to a betrayal from one of her siblings. They asked: Is there a chance for Viridian and Rin to reconcile, move forward, and have a relationship again, or is that a lost cause?

In this reading, I pulled The Tangled Briar in reverse. When drawn in reverse, The Tangled Briar indicates a past full of pain – but laced with hope for the future. Despite the way the thorns have cut you as you pulled yourself out, there is a full garden awaiting you once you fight your way through. There is hope, but it will be an uphill battle.

Sara (they/she) asked about her bartending alchemist witch Lana (she/her). They asked: Should Lana continue searching the Gauntlight in hopes of convincing Belcorra to join her coven, or should she switch to a more attainable goal, like becoming a hag?

After reshuffling, I pulled The Forge upright in answer to this question. The Forge encourages strength through diversity of material – but warns of getting into a quest too stubbornly and burning yourself to ashes. If the path forward isn’t changing, it might be time to turn away before it’s too late.

Single Card Spread

For these last two readings, I did a spread reading. For spread readings, you splay the entire deck out across the alter cloth and wander your fingers across the cards. The first card that is loose and comes easily is the answer to your question.

Lin (they/them) asked about their union space captain, Captain Vasko (she/her). After ten years in lock up, she and her rag-tag crew are fixing up the Dead Moon and traveling the stars. Lin asks: Will she ever find a home?

For this reading, The Joke slipped into my hands. Upright, The Joke signifies overcoming adversity through humor and other non-physical means. Taking a moment to relax, laugh, and take it easy will move your goals closer than you think. In order to build a home, you have to let yourself relax and let those walls down.

Basil (they/he/xe) asked about xir Triangle Agency character, Patience Hollyhock (they/them), who enjoys trench coats, coffee, and spending time with their partner. Basil asks: What should they do about the past they’re running from?

For this spread, the Paladin jumped out for me. The Paladin upright signifies strength in the face of adversity and encourages us to stand up for ourselves. Given the question, this card can be interpreted to mean: stop running. Turn your heel and face the horrors behind you. You are strong enough.

As a card reader of over a decade, the Harrow Deck is a wonderful addition to my tool belt, and I had a wonderful time reading fortunes for characters. No matter if you’re playing Pathfinder, Starfinder, or any other RPG—or if you just enjoy reading cards—the Harrow Deck is a beautiful addition to any collection.

Rue Dickey
Marketing and Media Specialist

Paizo is thrilled to announce a new partnership with Pegasus Publishing! Pegasus Publishing is a specialty t-shirt and bag supplier for the Science Fiction and Fantasy markets, and Paizo is excited to announce our first collaboration!

Two new t-shirt designs will debut at Dragon Con 2023 at booths 1301, 1303, 1305 in sizes S through XXXXXL!

Not going to be at Dragon Con? No worries! Both shirts are also available on their website (note: shipping for online orders won’t begin until 9/6): Mirage Dragon – Captain Concierge.

Expect apparel designs from our very own art team, tote bags, and more in the future!

Hello Pathfinders & Starfinders! This month’s new releases invite you to explore your destiny, meet the leaders of tomorrow, and dig ever deeper into the Darklands

We've got a busy week here at Paizo. Come to twitch.tv/officialpaizo on Thursday, Aug 31^st at 4 p.m. Pacific for a special livestream to kickstart our Pathfinder Playtest. Join Michael Sayre and James Case as they talk about the design concepts behind our two new classes!

Then, on Friday, Sept. 1^st, join us from 4-6 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv/officialpaizo for September’s Paizo LIVE! Our topics for this month include the Pathfinder Harrow Deck, Starfinder Enhanced, and a look at the Pathfinder Remaster Project!

Without further ado, let’s see what this month’s new releases have in store!

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Pathfinder Harrow Deck

FIND YOUR FUTURE!

Divine your destiny with the Pathfinder Harrow Deck, the legendary fortune-telling deck of Pathfinder’s Age of Lost Omens setting! With this 54-card, full-color set of fortune-telling cards, you’ll learn how to include the harrow in any tabletop RPG game and enhance play with immersive fortune-telling methods and other insights. With vivid art, patterned backing, and a size common to many real-world tarot decks, the Harrow Deck straddles the line between game supplement and storytelling set piece. Master the harrow and make the future anything you desire!

The Harrow Deck is available as a Super Deluxe Physical Edition or as a Print and Play PDF Edition.

Pathfinder Lost Omens: Knights of Lastwall Special Edition

Fulfill your oath!

When the armies of the Whispering Tyrant marched on Lastwall, the keeps and cities may have fallen, but its people and their spirit did not falter! Pathfinder Lost Omens: Knights of Lastwall takes a detailed look at the knights that took up arms to continue the fight against the undead hordes and evils that roam the world.

This deluxe special edition is bound in faux leather with metallic deboss cover elements and a bound-in ribbon bookmark.

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-05: Unearthing Ulumbia

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 5th- through 8th-level characters.

The Starfinders have vowed to stop the Organization, a mysterious and violent criminal syndicate whose true name remains unknown and whose machinations threaten the lives of millions. Digging into the Organization’s past has revealed an interest in ancient Ulumbia, a long-destroyed civilization from Deepwater Prime with few archaeological remains of value or importance. So why the interest? Travel to Deepwater Prime to unearth the secrets of ancient Ulumbia—a mission destined to drive the Starfinders into direct conflict with important agents of the Organization!

Pathfinder Adventure Path #194: Cult of the Cave Worm (Sky King’s Tomb 2 of 3)

Finding a legendary tomb requires tracking an equally legendary cave worm said to dwell there. As the adventurers set out from Highhelm, they must brave the Darklands’ dangers, navigate a treacherous fey city, and recover the relic that retraces the cave worm’s path. Yet in doing so, they learn of nefarious rivals who also seek the tomb—rivals the adventurers might stop by infiltrating an unforgiving underground metropolis.

Starfinder Bounty #9: Burning Ambitions

A Starfinder Bounty designed for 4th-level characters.

Domaaz Manhala is the youngest student ever accepted to the prestigious Solar University on the Burning Archipelago. Determined to prove their worth and make a good impression on their fellow students, Domaaz plans to perform a complicated magical experiment on the university’s public grounds, in full sight of students and staff! With little free time to spare, Domaaz hires a team of freelancers to acquire the remaining components they'll need to perform their grand experiment. Yet unbeknownst to them, something bigger is at play here, and there’s far more at stake than some extra credit!

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: Underground City Multi-Pack

Be they complex fortified settlements that were built ages ago by long-gone ancients or more recent creations still populated by vibrant societies, underground cities present an unusual and complex adventuring environment. This four-sided Flip-Mat collection provides four huge panels of underground city environments and supply the GM with a diverse set of subterranean urban battlefields suitable for any fantasy RPG campaign.

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Tomorrow’s Seekers

A Starfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.

Ehu Hadif has announced his upcoming retirement, and the search for a new First Seeker has begun! From the Society’s ranks, four promising candidates have risen to the forefront. Meet the candidates for First Seeker, perform a mission on their behalf, and cast your vote! The future of the Starfinder Society is in your hands!

Don’t forget to vote for your favorite candidate!

Pathfinder Society Special #3-98: Expedition Into Pallid Peril

A Pathfinder Society Special designed for 1st- through 6th-level characters (subtiers 1-4 & 3-6).

Having made several recent forays into a set of unearthed ruins in the volcanic region of Droskar’s Crag, the Pathfinder Society has uncovered what could be an access point to the lost dwarven city of Raseri Kanton. Pathfinder agents from across Golarion have come to support the Society’s latest large-scale endeavor. However, the Aspis Consortium have also begun exploring the ruins, so it’s a race to see who can reach Raseri Kanton first!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-16: Dacilane Academy’s First Great Prank War

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.

Exam time has always been stressful for the students of the Dacilane Academy, so J Dacilane has come up with a plan: have a group of Pathfinders help them pull off the first ever Dacilane Academy Great Prank War! Surely nothing can go wrong! However, once a caravan of fey traveling nearby catches a whiff of the chaos, they're more than willing to come and join the prank war—with or without an invitation. It's up to the Pathfinders to calm down the friendly fey, defeat the evil fey who infiltrated the caravan, and ensure that the students have the best prank war ever! Should be easy as pie. (Quick, duck that pie!)

Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-17: Trapping the Hag’s Claw

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 7th- through 10th-level characters.

In the conclusion of the Year of Boundless Wonder, the Pathfinder Society and one of the members of the Decemvirate have pieced together a careful plan. Using one of the mysterious items from the vault, the draught of dreams, the Society will lay a trap for Aslynn, catching her via her own greed and desire to control dreams. The plan requires bait, though, and Zarta Dralneen has stepped up to prove her loyalty to the Society yet again and finally finish off Aslynn. Despite their secrecy, however, she's caught wind of the plan and is ready to overturn it and finally be done with the Pathfinder Society once and for all!

Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Unfettered Exploration

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st- through 4th-level characters.

It's time to explore! With the Pathfinder Society coming down from their recent victory after finally defeating an old enemy, they choose to refocus on the goals that lie at the heart of their mission: Explore! Report! Cooperate! To celebrate such a successful year, Society members organize a party to host all sorts of friends, both new and old. However, when one of Fola Barun's dear friends needs to be entertained in order to prepare a surprise, it's up to the Pathfinders to show him around the famous Maze of the Open Road. When he starts to encourage exploration, new doors appear before the Pathfinders, and new adventures await!

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-02: The Blackwood Lost

A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 3rd- through 6th-level characters.

The Pathfinder dig site near the Tskikha iruxi enclave in the Blackwood Swamp was, for some time now, considered one of the safer Azlanti ruins to investigate, to the point that it was used as field training for groups of initiates. Having been cleared out years ago by agents, the site was an archeological treasure trove for learning of the elemental magics of ancient Azlant. Something has gone wrong, though. The elemental planes have changed in ways that scholars are, even now, struggling to understand, and the latent power within those ruins has manifested. It's been weeks since anyone has heard from the initiates currently on site or from the iruxi allies nearby. The Pathfinders must now race against time and delve into the bizarre magics wrought by the elements to rescue the Blackwood lost.

Get a world of fiction for a fraction of the cost!

Pathfinder and Humble Bundle have partnered to offer you dozens of Pathfinder fiction pieces, from novels to short stories to journal entries and more. A portion of the proceeds from this Humble Bundle benefits Comic Books for Kids, which provides kid-friendly comic and coloring books to children and teens in hospitals and care centers across the US.

Pathfinder Society Season 5 and Starfinder Society Season 6 – Now on Foundry VTT!

Starting Thursday, August 31st, we'll be giving Pathfinder and Starfinder Society the same treatment on Foundry VTT that we’ve been giving our Pathfinder Adventure Paths, allowing you to experience all of the latest Organized Play scenarios with the full suite of features, including maps, tiles, tokens, sounds, and more! Each of these modules is a one-time purchase that will be automatically updated throughout the season with new content as we release it. We’re offering two options on these modules: a streamlined “Asset Pack” consisting of maps, tokens, and other goodies for those who already have the adventures in PDF format; and a “Deluxe Edition” that also includes all of the adventure content from every scenario laid out in beautiful themed journals! Both asset packs and deluxe modules are available in half- and full-season packs for maximum convenience.

Browse all our Foundry VTT products here, including the new volume of Pathfinder Adventure Path #194: Cult of the Cave Worm (Sky King’s Tomb 2 of 3).

Our partners at Archives of Nethys, Demiplane, Fantasy Grounds, Hero Lab Online, and Roll20 are dropping new content this month as well! Buy your PDF on paizo.com to get a discount via the PaizoConnect API, or pay full price on their platforms, sync your account, and get a complimentary PDF on the Paizo Store.

Bring Pathfinder to where you are, in person or online, and if you don’t have a favorite local game store, get books delivered to your door via a Paizo Subscription! From rulebooks to adventures, accessories, and more, we’ve got subscriptions for every table! Subscribing to a line of books gets you the physical book and the PDF for one price. Subscribe to four lines or more to unlock Paizo Advantage savings on products site-wide!

Need some sound to spice up your table? Our partners at Syrinscape have a collection of Pathfinder and Starfinder soundtracks for your home game, streamed games, and more. New this month—Ogre Boss Battle!

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Thank you for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder!

Shop the Paizo Store and your favorite local game store today!

Millennia ago, dwarves completed their Quest for Sky, a legendary migration from their subterranean homeland to the surface. Their exodus nearly failed, but during the journey a hero arose to lead them—a young dwarf named Taargick. Time and again Taargick proved his bravery, resourcefulness, and political skill, inspiring his people to endure when all seemed lost. In honor of his great leadership, his followers named him ruler of the new kingdom they would found in his name: Tar Taargadth.

Illustration by Darko Stojanovic

Yet after the dwarves reached the surface and raised citadels and toasts to his legacy, Taargick felt as much remorse in his heart as he felt pride. His people had reached the surface as Torag commanded, but at what cost? Their road had been paved with the corpses of orcs, xulgaths, and more, slain by dwarven steel. Their unjustly shed blood had festered into a thousand vendettas, justifiably earning dwarves the hatred of many. Was Torag’s will worth so much death?

Taargick didn’t think so. Toward the end of his life, he politely declined the magnificent tomb his people had built for him. He departed alone to carve his own tomb, hidden in the depths, where the steady strikes of his tools drew the attention of one of the Darklands’ mightiest predators: a crimson worm. The two clashed for days before Taargick narrowly prevailed. To his surprise, the beast spoke, praising the king’s strength and skill. Taargick, realizing he had subdued an intelligent creature and not a mindless worm, remembered the countless orcs, xulgaths, and other creatures devastated by the Quest for Sky, and cast aside his weapons and shattered armor, refusing to end another Darklands life. Taargick and the cave worm spoke at length as he finished his tomb, developing a deep respect for each other.

Illustration by Luis Salas Lastra

At last, with the tomb ready, Taargick knew death was near. The crimson worm Zogototaru—better known in the region as the Avernal Worm—granted Taargick’s last wish: that she delivers his clan dagger to Highhelm, so it might rest among his people.

Illustration by Mylene Bertrand

But after the bold, if ill-suited, adventurer Krohan Veldollow stole the dagger and lost it, the city of Highhelm now lacks one of its greatest treasures: an artifact that points the way to an even greater secret that lies deep beneath the earth.

Sky King’s Tomb is a three part adventure path for levels 1-11. For GM’s looking to expand their knowledge of Highhelm and dwarven culture for this adventure, Lost Omens Highhelm takes you deep into the city and its customs.

Will your adventurers be the ones to find the secrets and save the city? Or will the dagger fall into sinister hands?

Hello Pathfinders! As we announced during our Gen Con Keynote Presentation, we have a playtest of two new classes starting September 1! These classes are entirely new – not concepts brought forward from First Edition into Second Edition—and we can’t wait to share them with you!

To kickstart the playtest, we’re having a Paizo Special Livestream on Thursday, August 31 at 4 p.m. pacific daylight time (PDT). Join Design Manager Michael Sayre and Senior Designer James Case as they give an overview of the new classes and introduce the Iconics that represent them.

Tune in on the twitch.tv/officialpaizo to see the new iconics!

The Pathfinder Playtest launches on September 1. Check back here then for a blog with more details about the classes and how to participate!

See you on twitch.tv/officialpaizo!

Hello, Starfinders!
Breaking news!

First Seeker Ehu Hadif soon to retire! Four engaging candidates rise from the Society’s rank and file, gaining the respect and support of their fellow Starfinders! Which of these four First Seeker hopefuls has what it takes to lead the Starfinder Society into the uncertain future? The choice is yours! The time to vote is now!

Meet the candidates for the 2023 First Seeker Election in Starfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Tomorrow’s Seeker, a repeatable adventure for 1st- through 4th-level characters written by our very own Alex Speidel! This is your chance to personally meet and engage with our four candidates for First Seeker, perform a mission for each, and get a taste of where they plan to lead the Starfinder Society in the future. After you’ve played the adventure, visit paizo.com/firstseeker to learn more about our candidates and the election, and to cast your vote!

The future is in your hands!

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Pact Worlds system, a call goes out for freelance problem solvers! Domaaz Manhala, youngest student ever to attend Solar University, is determined to earn the respect of their peers by performing a grand experiment in the quad. Unfortunately, they’ve been unable to find the time to collect a few key components! It’s up to you to travel the Burning Archipelago to collect the missing components and assist Domaaz with their explosive experiment!

Starfinder Bounty #9: Burning Ambitions is a short adventure for 4th-level characters written by Joel Southall.

Take care, Starfinders!

Jessica Catalan
Starfinder Society Developer

Illustration by Felipe Carneiro

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Welcome, Pathfinders!
This month we see the release of our new season, the Year of Unfettered Exploration!

Because no year could ever begin without a bang, we start in the Grand Lodge in Absalom, celebrating a monumental victory and the new allies that were gathered during our recent adventures! The Pathfinders are tasked with entertaining one of the new venture-captains, Taiwalei, and escorting him through a small tour of the Maze of the Open Road. However, missions are never as simple as they seem, and it appears some of the Elemental Planes ripped through into the Maze, bringing new faces, new challenges, and a whale shark of a time!

Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Unfettered Exploration is an adventure for 1st- through 4th-level characters written by Sen H.H.S.

Left to right illustrations by Riley Spalding and Bruno Cesar

Also this month, we’re heading back to the Blackwood Swamp to check in on the Azlanti dig site and the nearby Tskikha iruxi enclave from our two PFS intro scenarios, Pathfinder Society Scenario Intro #1: The Second Confirmation and Pathfinder Society Scenario Intro #2: United in Purpose. It’s become a bit of a training ground for initiate Pathfinders, as most of the dangers were cleared out years ago along with the most important finds. The main issue is that it’s been weeks since anyone has heard from either the Tskikha or the initiates, and Lolly Adafish, the newly-promoted venture-captain, is beside herself with worry.

It's up to you and your fellow Pathfinders to rectify this situation. As you learn what has become of the missing Pathfinders and iruxi, you’ll be faced with elemental magic gone out of control, and the choices you make will determine if everyone can make it back from wherever they are alive, including a certain young kobold who has been occasionally finding a place in this very blog over the past several months.

Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-02: The Blackwood Lost is an adventure for 3rd- through 6th-level characters written by Alison Cybe.

That’s all for now, Pathfinders! Remember: Explore, Report, Cooperate!

Josh Foster
Pathfinder Society Developer

Shay Snow
Pathfinder Society Developer

Welcome back to another exciting collection of Pathfinder Infinite & Starfinder Infinite Top Performers!

July’s Top Performers

Titles are ranked by an average of units sold and revenue earned and are presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate titles that have been on a best-seller list previously. Because they’ve consistently topped the list, and due to the number of their titles that typically take up spots, “Team+” and “Team Index” have asked to be removed from the calculations for ongoing top performers lists. This will allow newer publishers or book series to get more attention. Thanks, all!

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Abomination Vaults GMs Guide*

The Abomination Vaults Adventure Path is an extensive campaign in a sprawling megadungeon. Your players need the right tools to navigate its dangers, and you need the tools in this GM’s Guide to keep the action moving!

Inside, you’ll find new mini adventures that connect to the dungeon, new wandering factions, a checklist of all the side quests the campaign offers, and full stat blocks for every single monster you can find on each of the dungeon’s ten levels!

Age of Ashes Vol. 1 – The Council’s Chosen

Torra is the dwarven daughter of a Breachill town official, yearning for the sort of adventure she has only found in books. Against her father’s wishes, she has chosen to participate in the monthly “Call for Heroes,” a gathering for adventurers who will tackle Breachill’s most unusual and dangerous problems. No sooner has The Call begun than Torra is thrust into peril with three unlikely companions: Sedio, a surly strongman; Antara, a half-elven swashbuckler from a distant land; and Bellis, an enigmatic halfling sorcerer. Will the four of them survive their first adventure together, much less unravel the dark mystery that awaits them within the ruined keep outside of town?

This 107-page document is a novelization of a party’s adventure through Pathfinder Adventure Path #145: Hellknight Hill (Age of Ashes 1 of 6).

Cooking Unleashed*

Across Golarion, various delicious cuisines and meals are made every day by chefs from different cultures and backgrounds. Some alchemists dedicate themselves to mixing the art of alchemy with the culinary arts to create delicious and potent treats!

Divinity Unbound: Paths of Faith

From virtuous knights of Iomedae to mysterious mages of Nethys and sinister agents of Asmodeous whispering from the shadows, Paths of Faith is the first book in the Divinity Unbound line: a series of releases allowing you to fully embrace the worship of divine beings in your own games.

Everything Shields*

Do you want to play a swashbuckling, targe-wielding duelist whose shield can exude darkness on command when you get in a pinch? How about a witch who has etched a hex onto the face of their shield to make enemies falter when they attack? All these things and many more are possible with the additional shield content brought to you by Everything Shields.

Kitsune of Golarion*

Living clandestinely among Golarion's ancestries, kitsune make formidable foes and canny heroes. Kitsune of Golarion unlocks the full potential of this ancestry, detailing kitsune from every corner of the globe. This supplement expands the work presented in the Pathfinder Lost Omens Ancestry Guide and is penned by some of the same authors who pen the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

Queerfinder Issue 1: Bars of Absalom*

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Queerfinder Society's travel magazine, a guide to Golarion from queer creators and allies that’s focused on queer characters and stories! This issue features NPCs, locations, adventures, and more that center queer stories.

Queerfinder Issue 2: Absalom Winter Traditions*

Welcome to the second issue of the Queerfinder Society's travel magazine, a guide to Golarion from queer creators and allies that’s focused on queer characters and stories! Celebrate the winter solstice with festivals, fiction, recipes, and more!

Smoke and Sail: a Pathfinder 2e Naval Warfare Sourcebook

Few environments conjure feelings of excitement and trepidation more acutely than the ocean, with its endless rhythm of churning waves and all its possibilities for adventure. Tenacious crews sailing ships of all sizes make perilous journeys across the majestic vastness that stretches from horizon to horizon, certain that their vessel will carry them to shore under any sky and over any sea.

This sourcebook provides a comprehensive ruleset for running such a vessel and engaging in thrilling, ship-based combat encounters.

Temptations: Trade Your Soul for Power

Temptations is a subsystem that provides powerful abilities to characters who are willing to risk their reputations, bodies, and even their souls in exchange for power. When a mage forges a contract with a devil, a rogue bonds with a dark artifact, or a noble takes advice from a sinister advisor, they encounter temptation: the balance between what power a person might gain and what they give up in the process. This subsystem, based on the subsystems presented in the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide, models this slow but insidious battle of wills for heroes who dabble in the dark and otherworldly.

New from Infinite Masters!

With the release of Pathfinder: Rage of Elements, our Infinite Masters have cooked up some phenomenal companion supplements! Take a look at these new or upcoming products from our Infinite Masters!

• All Things Balanced: Mastering the Elements by Kevin Glusing. A collection of new feats, archetypes, impulses, and more to expand your control of the elements.
• Wisdom of Elements by Andrew D. Geels. Elemental class options for bard, druid, oracle, ranger, witch, and wizard, as well as new class feats and focus spells.

Here’s a look behind the scenes at Paizo’s internal playtests.

Welcome to one of our first blogs following up on the recent announcement of Starfinder Second Edition! For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Thurston Hillman, the Managing Creative Director for Starfinder. Basically, that means that I guide the creative vision for the Starfinder brand, while also managing the great folks who work on the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Today, as we continue our open playtest experience, I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at some of the internal playtesting we’ve been doing here at Paizo!

Up until this point, the team has been doing some immediate stress tests of new classes under the GMing stewardship of our Director of Game Design, Jason Bulmahn. These involved some themed adventures about a starship that went too close to the Horizon of an Event, or a deadly jungle encounter where we learned the creature hunting us could bleed and so we could kill it. The playtests we’re reviewing here take place after those, bypassing some of our rockier initial class design, and instead focused on exploring some other aspects of Starfinder in a new game engine.

Playtest #1: Streetsweep

Map: Starfinder Flip-Mat: Enormous Battlefield
Character Level: 5th

Our initial playtests generally took place in confined environments, or locations that forced some tight-quarters gameplay. This was great, because we all know that there’s going to be a ton of adventures happening in cramped starship corridors or on alien worlds with lots of dense foliage. However, those situations are only a small part of the Starfinder experience. One element that I’ve been passionate about—speaking as the developer who proverbially trademarked “1 square = 30 feet” in an adventure I developed for Organized Play—was that we needed to try out some open-area and long-range combats to make sure all these futuristic guns and grenades we’ve been working on were going to be fun and balanced in play.

Starring in this playtest:

• GM: Thurston Hillman (Managing Creative Director for Starfinder)
• Operative: Jessica Catalan (Starfinder Society Developer)
• Mystic: Dustin Knight (Starfinder Developer)
• Soldier: GM NPC played by Thurston
• Witchwarper: Jenny Jarzabski (Starfinder Senior Developer)

For a quick recap of the classes at play here…

The operative focuses on using guns and taking an aim action to get extra precision damage. Jessica’s operative for this playtest was built to be a sniper (as opposed to our iconic, who is more focused on using pistols at close range).

The mystic class creates a bond with their party members and has a vitality network that allows them to store Hit Points and deliver them to bonded allies with a single action (for those clutch heals). Dustin attempted a test build using the song connection to provide some buffs in addition to healing.

The witchwarper class activates a quantum aura, which creates bizarre effects and manipulates nearby space. Jenny’s witchwarper used the precog anomaly to help control the flow of time in and around them (as well as stacking grenades in their cheek pouches).

Finally, my soldier was built using a bombard-focused style, packing a stellar cannon and a machine gun to take advantage of being a kasatha and having four arms. For more info on the soldier and how it plays, check out Field Test #1.

We got right into the action, with the party confronting a group of Azlanti Star Empire Aeon Guards advancing through the streets of an embattled city. These well-trained troops used an ability called “aeon advance” that allowed them to spend a single action to move and fire their rifles if they ended adjacent to another Azlanti ally. This led to a vicious opening salvo, as the Aeon Guards had some exceptional initiative rolls, and advanced to slam a withering fusillade of fire into the soldier. This also led to the enemies clustering up, which turned out to be pretty useful in testing out how the soldier worked.

Once the PCs got to go, the situation quickly changed. Jessica’s operative took their first shot and opened (naturally) with a critical hit. This single shot dealt a whopping 2d12+2d6+1 damage, then doubled, then another 1d12 for the extra fatal damage dice. This dealt in the 40s for damage and immediately popped one of the Aeon Guards down, as they only had 30 Hit Points.

This set the tone for the combat as the soldier began unleashing hell with their stellar cannon, dealing regular damage to the clustered Aeon Guards. The mystic provided spot healing through their vitality network, while the witchwarper opted to try out grenades. Right now, the Starfinder team is experimenting with grenades as placed area effects with a limited range and no attack roll that use a character’s Class DC to determine targets’ saves. Our tactics were a success, and it didn’t take long for the players to overcome this Moderate threat encounter.

The second encounter of this playtest had the PCs advance further into the city, where they came under fire from additional Aeon Guard ground troops, as well as a pair of Aeon Guard snipers. These snipers held back and used a ported-over version of the “Sentry’s Aim” action found on the Archer Sentry in the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide, which let them sit back and fire with their long-range weapons and ignore cover on targets—a VERY powerful ability. Currently, the operative’s aim action isn’t quite this good, but NPCs get to cheat every once in a while!

What stood out most about this fight was the use of a simple piece of terrain on the map, a downed tree, for cover. Much of the combat saw both sides on opposite ends of a toppled tree stump, each firing at one another and then taking cover for increased AC against return fire. This led to a really fun and cinematic combat, which also forced a “sniper duel” as Jessica’s operative had to battle the two enemy snipers, one of which was almost 200 feet away, so far away they aren’t even visible on the screenshots.

This fight had some other interesting mechanics at play. The soldier fired a warning shot prior to the start of combat to suppress one of the Aeon Guards, applying a combat penalty that actually stopped the guards from hitting in the first round, and slowing their advance into cover thanks to the suppressed condition (see Field Test #1 for detailed info on how all this works). Our witchwarper was able to flush the Aeon Guards out of cover, and then the mortal coil, by zipping forward with the help of magic and tossing grenades into them as they clustered for cover behind the tree stump. Meanwhile, the mystic continued to provide healing to everyone through their vitality network, while also tossing out reliable offensive spells like noise blast to help overcome immediate threats. The combat was over in round 5, thanks in part to the precog’s aura giving a speed boost to allies that let them close the gap with the snipers in short order.

This was the end of the playtest session. In the team’s debrief we discussed how area weapons were overall way more effective on groups of enemies (big surprise, I know). This had been a sticking point in our prior playtesting where enemies were spread out or we battled single foes where the area damage didn’t make much difference. This really made us think that the soldier might need more abilities to focus on single targets, something we’re already started pondering.

It also got us talking about adventure design and including options for encouraging creatures to group up for benefits. The sniper operative was consistent, with strong capabilities of popping lower-level threats through crits and dealing reliable damage with their aimed shots, which made us concerned about the overall damage the class could put out (more on that in our next playtest!). The mystic felt like it was in a good place with how they could provide secondary healing while also actively participating in battle. The witchwarper continues to be one that we fine tune, as its quantum aura ability requires them to stay mobile and play close to enemies to take advantage of some of their unique warp spells and effects.

Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes looks at our playtests, news about our ongoing releases, and discussions about Starfinder Second Edition!

Thurston Hillman
Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)

Hello, players! Like the blog from earlier today, we want to shine the spotlight on the authors who contributed to Year 4 of Pathfinder Society. The Year of Boundless Wonder may be over, but that doesn’t mean these adventures are going anywhere!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

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Letterio Mammoliti (he/him)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-06: Signal from the Electric Laboratory

Hello everyone!
My name is Letterio Mammoliti (he/him) and I wrote Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-06: Signal from the Electric Laboratory for the Year of Boundless Wonder. This adventure was truly a joy to write since it was set in one of my favorite regions, Ustalav! Without a doubt, the best part was creating the NPCs, in particular Revecka, and trying to tie some of their stories together. Besides, it is always great when you have a chance to put a few oozes and other mad experiments into an adventure!

My somewhat abandoned twitter is @Letterio_DM, where I should definitely be more active. I have worked on Starfinder Society Scenario #5-09: Counterfeit History and I have worked on Pathfinder Howl of the Wild, which was an amazing opportunity and a real blast!

As usual, I am grateful for the incredible patience and support of the editors, and it was inspiring to see amazing people working together for Pathfinder Howl of the Wild!

Alex Speidel (he/him)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-08: Battle for Star’s Fate

Greetings, Pathfinders. The stars are at rest, so I shall spare a moment for you.

My scenario was one of the last that Mike Kimmel assigned, and I’d been talking with him for a while about writing the first Crystal Key scenario because I liked the pitch of “we have to stop that weird alien from doing the things to peoples’ brains.” However, I was a little skittish about writing a high-level scenario, so I settled on Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-08: Battle for Star’s Fate, where I got to write about a sad automaton who wanted to look at the stars. As my favorite character is a cosmos oracle, I fell in love with Star immediately, and I’m so happy they’re living their best life in Golarion, right Shay? Right?

One thing I meant to talk about when the scenario was released was that I used the Deck of Endless NPCs to generate the friends you meet! Brinna, Croll, and Induren were all generated using the cards from the deck before I fleshed them out, which was a fun brainstorming exercise. Rasool was an NPC I loved in Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-21: In Pursuit of Water, one of my sleeper favorite scenarios, so I decided to bring him back, and Darius is a nod to my friends on the Foundry server who insist I promised them a carpenter class at some point. And for those who asked: the “tinker, tailor, soldier, spy” connection? Complete coincidence, honestly. The mind works in strange ways!

I do want to give a shoutout to our developers and editors. They’re the best in the business, and they stopped me from doing things like, and this is a direct quote, "creating an influence encounter larger than Bid for Alabastrine’s.” They saved you all, and I’m so grateful.

Catch me on Bluesky (@alexspeidel.bsky.social) or Mastodon (alexspeidel@dice.camp) or, y’know, here on the Paizo blog most weeks. Go now, the heavens speak to me once more.

Isis Wozniakowska (she/her)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-10: Arclord’s Abode

Hey everyone, I’m Isis Wozniakowska (she/her) and for Pathfinder this season, I wrote #4-10 Arclord’s Abode, the ending of the two-part story arc that I luckily got to share with fellow author Michael Bramnik. We put in a lot of work to make sure the two scenarios really felt like they tied into each other without alienating players who were only doing one of the two, and I think we both managed to achieve that in the best way. I love the character of our dear Arclord and how they develop across the two scenarios, and I had so much fun designing a Wizard’s manor gone haywire. Magic shenanigans are one of my favorite fantasy topics, and I put my heart into making this magic as wacky as I could.

On a more personal note, this scenario is one that I’m especially proud of looking back on because, while I was unaware at the time of writing it, my health condition was quickly starting to degrade from a condition I have that no one (including myself) realized was flaring back up until a couple months later. So, the fact that I finished it at all is an accomplishment I’m so proud of, and even more so seeing that it came out so well in the end. Organized Play has been a big part of my life since I came back to it as my main social outlet after I had my first hospitalization for this condition four years ago. So having this scenario be part of that ongoing comeback means a lot to me. So, I hope you all enjoy Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-10 Arclord’s Abode!

Art by Beto Lima

Jacob W. Michaels (he/him)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-11: Prisoners of the Electric Castle

Hi everyone, I’m Jacob W. Michaels (he/him), the author of Year 4’s Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-11: Prisoners of the Electric Castle. For inspiration, I initially turned to various escape heists in popular culture, but the adventure really came together when I realized I was writing Star Wars (Episode 4: A New Hope). You’re Obi-Wan disabling a “tractor beam,” and Luke, Han, and Chewie are rescuing Leia, and it fit perfectly (though Bremix is no Princess Leia, even if he would probably insult certain PCs’ height).

There are a few things I love about this adventure: I got to play with a couple of possible endings, where the climactic final fight depends on how you deal with challenges throughout the scenario. There are also a bunch of callbacks to first edition run-ins with Aslynn for longtime PFS players to find. (I’ve loved reactions when PFS veterans hear Thurl’s name!) My absolute favorite, though, is the moment players realize they’re 100% going to steal the Gale’s Claw. Those are the great moments you tell fellow gamers about and keep as a story for your PC.

This is my fourth adventure for Paizo, and I’m looking forward to No. 5. Thanks to everyone who lets me write them; the other amazing people who make them all come together—editing, fantastic art, layout, and everything else; and thank you for playing and having fun with them!

Matt Duval (he/him)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-14: Shattering Golden Chains

Hello! I was privileged to have Shay invite me to follow up on the fantastic fun of Letterio Mammoliti and Solomon St. John from Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-08: Foundation’s Price and Pathfinder Society Scenario #3-12: Fury’s Toll,respectively, and continue the adventures of the new Sedeq Lodge.

With the conflict with Fasiel ibn Sazadin coming to a head, I wanted to build on the groundwork laid in those prior adventures with Safa’s backstory and bring out Fasiel’s charming personality so players would be chomping for a chance to get a piece of him. It was also an opportunity to touch on the importance of properly wording wishes, which has been an ongoing problem for Fasiel since he was first introduced in Pathfinder Society Scenario #2-16: Freedom for Wishes. All the fun of diabolic contracts with a hefty topping of mischief.

There’s a little twist in the final encounter that I won’t spoil, but the player reaction to it is always delightful when I’ve run the scenario. The PCs have a lot of latitude on how to approach all the encounters, and it’s been great seeing what creative ideas players come up with.

I can’t wait to see where Safa’s adventures take the Pathfinders next!

I can be found on Twitter @sleepyfelix.

John Curtin (he/him)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-16: Dacilane Academy’s First Great Prank War

Hi, my name is John Curtin (he/him) and I had the profound honor of being asked to write Dacilane Academy’s First Great Prank War. Having a decade of experience working in schools and a long-seated love of mythology and folk tales, I loved being able to weave these parts of my life into my first Pathfinder Second Edition adventure, and the fact that I got to bring so much of my absurd sense of humor to bear was the cherry on top! My favorite part of this adventure was how silly I got to be. There are so many opportunities for chaotic fun when you’re writing fey shenanigans, and I really pushed myself to imagine what magical pranks could be and how they can get even wilder when fairy magic gets involved. I was also thrilled to return to Dacilane Academy and revisit the students and school—I hid plenty of references to the past adventures for the studious GM and Organized Players to uncover. I hope this adventure brings lots of laughs, and I can’t wait to hear the table stories that it spawns. Here at Paizo, I’ve got more Starfinder credits upcoming; you can read my words in the upcoming Starfinder Enhanced, and in true freelancer fashion, the projects I’m most excited to tell everyone about are still under NDA. To hear about my latest and greatest, you can follow me on Twitter @Curtin_Writes and explore the currently inactive @StarfinderFacts, at least until someone gets me a BlueSky invite.

Illustration by Nicolas Espinoz

Lysle Kapp (he/him)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-17: Trapping the Hag’s Claw

This past year saw the publication of my first two Starfinder Society adventures and also an adventure that took on a very personal meaning for me, Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-17: Trapping the Hag’s Claw. For this assignment, as I had done for each of the Starfinder adventures, I began by delving deep into the setting’s rich and detailed lore. The Pathfinders were to face a challenging and recurring threat from their past. The PCs were to drive a collective story about bringing a decisive end to one chapter of Society’s history and laying the groundwork for the next. During this writing process, I unexpectedly lost my mother to a stroke. Suddenly, the collective story I was writing for the PCs became my own.

Fortunately, like the PCs, I didn’t face the changing chapters alone. My developer, Shay Snow, was incredibly supportive and accommodating. Both old gaming friends and new stepped up to do some playtesting, providing much needed fun and laughter along with suggestions for improving the adventure. With this support and my own memories and losses from which to draw, I set about creating an inspiring adventure filled with numerous callbacks to previous adventures (spanning across two editions!). My hope is that the final adventure honors the work of those who came before me, lays a strong foundation for games to come, and foremost, provides players with hours of fun and excitement!

Dennis Muldoon (he/him)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-99: Blessings of the Forest

Greetings Pathfinders! My name is Dennis Muldoon (he/him). This year, I was delighted to co-author this year's interactive special, #4-99 Blessings of the Forest with Ivis K. Flanagan. I've long admired Ivis as an author, a GM, and a dedicated Organized Play volunteer (as well as a friend), and it was a privilege to get to work with her on this adventure. I'm really proud of what we came up with, and I hope you all have as much fun playing it as we did writing it. My favorite part was crafting a final confrontation to be compelling and challenging at all levels, including connections between the tiers to tie them together. I look forward to hearing the tales of the brave Pathfinders who take on this assignment! You can find me on Twitter (until Groetus finally comes for it) at @dkmuldoon. 

Ivis K. Flanagan (she/they)
Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-99: Blessings of the Forest

One of my favorite things to GM are multi-table specials. The energy that fills a room as everyone interacts with the same story, working towards common goals, is the epitome of what society play means to me. So, when Shay offered me the chance to co-write this year's special alongside veteran author Dennis Muldoon, I jumped at the chance!

I was excited to dive into the history of the society and help bring that forward to both new players and longtime veterans. What does it really mean to be a Pathfinder? Why have we stayed out of Kyonin for so long? And why do we want to be here now? These were all questions I explored while weaving my part of the story.

In addition to unannounced projects coming up, you can find some of my upcoming Paizo work in Starfinder Enhanced. Outside of here, I am working with some other cool people on an Adventure Path that will take you to the heart of Kong: Skull Island. Check it out on BackerKit if you want more details!

When not diving into the depths of esoteric Pathfinder lore, or digging my way through the word mines, I’m disguised as a Gifted Intervention teacher, or running quests for Auryn, my feline who has me wrapped around his paw. Virtually, you can find my list of credits on my Paizo profile, and you can connect with me on Twitter @NorseButterfly, Mastodon @NorthernDreamer@dice.camp, or Bluesky @NorthernDreamer.bsky.social, where I mostly muse about teaching, gaming, and politics. Feel free to reach out, as I am always on the lookout for cool projects and fun conversations!

Greetings, players! In today’s blog we’d like to take a moment to recognize our talented freelance authors who contributed to the most recent slate of Starfinder Society adventures. Some of these authors have been writing for us for years, while others saw their names in print for the very first time!

Tune in next week for the Pathfinder Society edition of this blog, and drop your praise for our authors in the comments below!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

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Alex Speidel (he/him)
Starfinder Society Intro: Year of Redemption’s Rise

Hi again, long time no see! I had the distinct honor of writing the Intro to the Year of Redemption’s Rise. As a first Starfinder scenario (indeed, a first, full-length adventure), this was a daunting task, but I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge.

My goal was not only to introduce the three new factions in fun and unique ways, but to give a “day in the life” of a Starfinder at the Lorespire Complex. I’m very pleased with how it turned out! I took inspiration from my time as a camp counselor and tour guide to write Charla’s tour, which was great fun (and apparently accidentally established an author trademark? Stay tuned for Starfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Tomorrow’s Seekers to learn what that means). My favorite thing to do when I run this scenario is to pepper in some of my favorite NPCs; players will often encounter Olive and Violet leading Fitch’s children on a heist through the kitchen or see Barsala working away in the research labs. I also got to give Ehu what I referred to as his “Kennedy moment” in the conclusion (we must repair the Society in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard…).

You can follow me on Bluesky (@alexspeidel.bsky.social) or Mastodon (alexspeidel@dice.camp), and as mentioned above, my next scenario is another tentpole: Starfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Tomorrow’s Seekers, wherein you’ll meet the new First Seeker candidates. I hope you all enjoy it!

Illustration by Sebastian Rodriguez

Alison Cybe (they/them or she/her)
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-03: Combatant’s Concerto: Fugue of the Traitor

Hi there friends, I’m Alison Cybe. Pronouns are they/them or she/her. I’m the author of the Starfinder Scenario Fugue of the Traitor.

In it, I wanted to mix a classic Agatha Christie style murder-mystery with an exploration into grassroots liberation movements; why groups of people rise to fight for themselves against oppressive cultures. Not a common mix of themes, but I’m a firm believer that the games we play can be about subjects and that entertainment media should always have something to say.

I penned the adventure over a year ago now, and I’ve had time to look back on what sections I enjoy the most and what I would change. I think the mystery section is the element that comes across the best, allows the players to get stuck in; but I would have loved it more if I’d have had more time to frame the NPCs and let the characters know them. I sometimes worry that I went overboard on the descriptions of imperialist atrocities, as that is what content warnings are for.

This year is my foray into creating adventures for Pathfinder Society, and you can find my adventure, Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-02: The Blackwood Lost, on sale this month. Inspirations for it include the covers of many prog rock albums. How is that an inspiration? Play it and see! I was also allowed to work in a subplot that’s very important to me...

You can find me on twitter @alisoncybe, on facebook as Alison Cybe, and on Discord!

Isis Wozniakowska (she/her)
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-04: Fragment of the 4th

Hey everyone, my name is Isis Wozniakowska (she/her), and I wrote Starfinder Society Scenario #5-04: Fragment of the 4^th, one of season 5’s the Drift Crisis themed scenarios for levels 9-12. It was my first major foray into writing something that high of level, though I’ve played through several Starfinder Adventure Paths and tons of scenarios of those levels and love seeing what the game can do up there and what kinds of crazy abilities players can have. My main priority was making sure the scenario really felt like a continuation of so many things the Starfinders have done across the past seasons and make sure that even in times like the Drift Crisis, they have made a good impact on the universe and can keep doing so if they stick to it. I won’t spoil anything that happens, but I’m super proud of the NPCs in it and how they remind us that Starfinder Society Organized Play is a living campaign with continuity. Aside from that I’m also just happy because it’s high level content and truly we all get that great endorphin rush when the numbers go up. Big number go BrrrRRRrrrr!

Hilary Moon Murphy (she/her)
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-06: Tarnished Legacy: Historia’s Holdout

Hello! I'm Hilary Moon Murphy (aka Hmm) a Minneapolis librarian and writer. I am here today to talk about my favorite Starfinder Society Scenario #5-06: Tarnished Legacy: Historia's Holdout. I loved writing this scenario because it is part mystery, part wacky dungeon delve, and all heart. If you haven't played it yet, I hope that it surprises you in the best possible way.

One of the challenges that I faced with this scenario is that Historia Prime was a past villain who had so much awful history. Was there anything new that I could reveal about his nefarious deeds, and still keep a light-hearted tone to this adventure? It was an interesting balancing act.

(Historia's Holdout is followed by the delightful Starfinder Society Scenario #5-08 Tarnished Legacy: Star Sugar Superstar!!! written by the very talented Emily Parks, but each part of this two-part mini-arc is a complete story in itself.)

If you are looking for more of my work, I am very excited for the upcoming Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-03: Heidmarch Heist, a mystery that will offer the famous Sheila and Canayven Heidmarch their first appearances in a PF2 Scenario.

Illustration by Allan Santos da Silva

Letterio Mammoliti (he/him)
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-09: Counterfeit History

Howdy!
My name is Letterio Mammoliti (he/him) and I wrote Starfinder Society Scenario #5-09: Counterfeit History for the Year of Redemption’s Rise. I had incredible fun working on this adventure even though it meant showcasing some Starfinders in a less than positive light. I got to include an arrogant espraksa, create a gang of thugs, and two dedicated archaeologists, which is always great!

It is hard to say which part was my favorite. I loved making the day of Dig Boss Hartek a truly miserable one (even before the Starfinders showed up) and I enjoyed describing the Vartaikam Bazaar and the Firewings’ operation.

My twitter is @Letterio_DM, although I am rarely active there. I have also worked on Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-06: Signal from the Electric Laboratory.

I am glad I was given the chance to work on a Starfinder adventure, especially considering the incredible work that everyone has been doing on this amazing game.

Matt Duval (he/him)
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-10: Shadow of the Vault Lord

You Starfinders wish to know the secrets of the Vault Lord? You are braver or more foolish than most! We shall indulge your curiosity before you are scattered to dust.

The tales of Salvation’s End are not dissimilar from the speculative works of your primitive entertainments, with the cursed Guiding Intelligence treating test subjects like characters from your Outer Limits or Twilight Zone. But we have transcended such simple games and prefer the more exciting adventures like your Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, watching the futile efforts of these heroes as they clash against ultimate powers like ourselves. We have always stopped watching once they find themselves in a certainly lethal trap, assured of their ultimate demise.

Our most recent target vault for conquest is an advanced center of work, entertainment and learning, an Experiential Proper Center Of Testing. With the inhabitants there under our power, the domination of this station will soon be at hand! Then we shall delight in your fellow Starfinders’ pleas for mercy before delivering the final crushing blow.

Our messenger can be found on Twitter @sleepyfelix. We thank Jessica Catalan for her good service in continuing these transmissions.

Now, farewell, Starfinders. We leave you to your certain demise with only this inoperable starship and spare parts to keep you company before oblivion.

...They escaped?! Impossible! Next time, Starfinders! Next time!

Dennis Muldoon (he/him)
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-13: Finding the Forgotten

Hello Starfinders! My name is Dennis Muldoon (he/him). I was delighted to co-write Starfinder Society Scenario #5-13: Finding the Forgotten with my wife, Kate Baker. I really enjoyed working on this scenario, particularly working with Kate to make sure that all the clues were consistent with the true nature of the situation the PCs find themselves in, while avoiding being so obvious they give away the secret. I'm really proud of where this one ended up, and I hope you enjoy! You can find me on Twitter @dkmuldoon (at least until Triune finally decides it's a bad idea and shuts it down). For more of my recent Starfinder work, check out my article on Gaskari in StarfinderPorts of Call, and my volume in the upcoming Mechaggedon! adventure path, due some time in 2024!

Illustration by Tom Ventre

Rigby Bendele (they/them)
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-15: Beta Test

My first credit freelancing with Paizo was Starfinder Society #2-03: The Withering World. Getting to write for Starfinder Society is always a treat. Since the games are single sessions, it forces me to have a focus on each part working just right. However, they're also part of a larger world, so I can dig into aspects of the setting that I want to explore. For Starfinder Society #5-15: Beta Test, I got to do both of these. While it's designed as a Starfinder Society adventure, it's great for anyone looking for a single session in the level 11-14 range.

I'm also excited to have my authorship on a volume of Mechageddon! announced. If you like my design style at all, you should play or run Mechageddon! when it comes out (or before, if you're a precog). It's got everything a person could want, like mechs, kaiju, and - oh no, I'm being pushed off stage so I don't spoil the ending! Well, I guess you'll have to play it to find out.

Chris Wasko (he/him)
Starfinder Society Scenario #5-16: To Catch a King

Hi! I'm Chris Wasko (he/him), and I've written a few Paizo adventures, most recently Starfinder Society Scenario #5-16: To Catch a King. The outline for this scenario was one of the most detailed I've received, with multiple set pieces, plot developments, and requests for fully-fleshed NPCs with distinct personalities and motivations. I leaned on some ideas from my very first scenario—Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-18: Faithless and Forgotten, Part 3: The Infernal Inheritance—to realize the scenario's central setting, creating a dynamic playground for PCs to explore. I particularly enjoyed writing the more antagonistic "Starfinders," figuring out their tics and how PCs could understand and manipulate them without open conflict. I'm excited for some more of my work to emerge in the upcoming Mechageddon! adventure, as well as to see some of my favorite scenarios being revamped in the Scoured Stars adventure path!

Get ready for an amazing adventure as Pathfinder Lore Masters, the ultimate knowledge and trivia-focused mobile game that explores the rules and lore of the Pathfinder universe, heads your way!

With passion and dedication, the Lore Masters team has crafted this game from their love of tabletop RPGs, boasting years of combined experience in game development, roleplaying, and game mastering. "Our excitement knows no bounds as we eagerly await the moment when every Pathfinder fan can challenge each other's knowledge,” says the Lore Masters team. “The game's progress has been fantastic, and we're proud to share that a demo build is already in Paizo's hands. We're actively working on their feedback and integrating features like user profiles and progression for our release."

Immerse yourself in Pathfinder's rich world, challenge fellow fans, and discover new depths of knowledge. The game will feature over 6,500 questions from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide, and Pathfinder Rage of Elements. Engage in thrilling multiplayer challenges, compete on leaderboards, and choose questions from five difficulty levels across various categories.

Mark Moreland, Paizo's Director of Brand Strategy, shared his enthusiasm, saying, "We're very excited to bring the world of Golarion to Lore Masters. This engaging trivia game is a great way to immerse players new and old in the lore and rules of Pathfinder.”

Pathfinder Lore Masters will be available on both iOS and Android in October 2023, and players can pre-register to download as of today.

For more updates and information, visit the Lore Masters website at www.loremasters.com

Though Lost Omens Highhelm has been out for some time now, we wanted to take one last look at the book and the authors who made it possible. Dwarves are known for their fine crafts and the work these authors put into Highhelm would make any dwarf proud to display this book next to their finest blades and armor. As these authors share a bit about them and their work, consider letting them know if you like their work in the comments or following them on social media!

Luis Loza
Creative Director

Art by Mirco Paganessi

Caryn DiMarco

Hello, my name is Caryn DiMarco and I was thrilled to contribute The Depths section of Lost Omens: Highhelm. I had a lot of fun thinking about the different countercultural elements that might bubble up in a less-structured part of the city and how they would interact with the dominant customs that shape the rest of Highhelm.

If your PCs ever venture out of the main city, I hope they take the chance to learn the local legends (and perhaps rescue some local daredevils) at Diomira's Drop, splurge for a snail mucin facial at The Smelted Bank, or perhaps get in on the action at The Fight Pits!

Michelle Jones

What's up gamers! It's ya girl, Michelle Jones, here once again, back to provide you with the finest player options in all of King's Crown (and the only player options in King's Crown... cause I wrote them all). If you want weapons that literally deal death, then there's no topping Ornmarr's Fell Arms. If you want stealthy, political intrigue, there's plenty for that too. And for the GMs who love to confound and terrify their players, I have created a special gift in the bestiary, known as the Bloodstorm.

If you want to keep up with me, you can follow me on twitter @AleshaKills or check out my indie projects at Aleshakills.itch.io

Art by Sandra Posada

Matt Morris

I’m Matt Morris, and I’ve been lucky enough to do freelance writing for Pathfinder and Starfinder for several years now, working with Paizo and a few third-party companies, including Everybody Games and Rogue Genius Games.

I was excited to expand on the cultures, subcultures, and countercultures of the great city of Highhelm, as well as to bring the fiery god Angradd into Second Edition. My favorite contribution to the book was the gazetteer of the Five Kings Mountains; it has everything you need for an adventure right outside Highhelm's doors. If you need directions from Fort Dagh to Mount Gustus, I'm your guy!

I keep an up-to-date list of my work on my Paizo profile, and I’m always looking for interesting projects, so feel free to contact me if you are looking for a reliable writer!

When not writing, I’m teaching high school English near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dave Nelson

Dave Nelson is a queer and neurodivergent freelancer who learned way too many facts about goats and mules writing for this book. He also wrote the Stalwart Defender, details on the dwarven pantheon, and the new animal companions.

Art by Sandra Posada

Mikhail Rekun

Приветствую, уважаемые читатели! My name is Mikhail Sergeyevich Rekun, and I’m a Ukrainian-American author and historian. You may know me from prior works such as Dark Archive,  Impossible Lands, and The Mwangi Expanse, alongside a couple dozen other Pathfinder works.

Here in Highhelm, the section I wrote up was limited to King's Crown. So, if you get yourself eaten by a very charming shadow ooze or caught in a nuclear explosion created by a dwarven apocalypse cult, blame me (I am not sorry).

When not working on bringing nukes into Golarion, I'm the Creative Director of the Luminant Age campaign setting, a post-apocalyptic weird fantasy swashbuckler. It also has nukes (we call it the omphalic flame), alongside mecha-cultists, psychic angel-trees, and whatever-it-is a Masqued Strix is. You can find us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/LuminantA (assuming Twitter still exists when this goes up) or check out our published products at https://luminant-age.itch.io! And for a real treat, check out our forthcoming Kickstarter, Paragons of the Luminant Age, a book full of archetypes and NPCs—including the Esseweaver, written by the one and only Mark Seifter!

Erin Roberts

Hey y’all, I’m Erin Roberts and I had the absolute pleasure of writing the Stonebreach section of Highhelm (including the Stonebreach options). I’ve lived in cities my entire life and getting a chance to give some love and new depth to a fictional city was a real joy. I was especially excited to work on Stonebreach, the most working-class area of Highhelm, and try to capture the hardworking, hard-playing, sometimes hard-up but rarely hardhearted vibe that I envisioned being a part of daily life there.

In addition to being a city dweller, I’m a writer of stories and games. I usually have at least two projects going at any one time and was thrilled to be recognized this year as one of the winners of the Diana Jones Awards Emerging Designer program. I have lots of cool stuff coming up, including an article in the final issue of MCDM’s Arcadia (out in late July). To keep up with what I’m up to, visit me at linktr.ee/erinroberts.

Art by Sandra Posada

Shan Wolf

Hi, my name is Shan, and I helped write some of the Dwarven Gods, including one of my favorites: Trudd! I've been writing for Paizo for a bit now, and every project I get on is better and better. I truly hope ya'll enjoy Highhelm because it's an amazing book put together by amazing creators!

If you want to learn more about me or my work? I'm at @Fenrirs_Chosen on twitter!

And of course, we also want to thank our other authors for their great work on Highhelm!

• Piper Amatrudi: King’s Heart (page 60), King’s Heart Options (page 72), Defenders of Highhelm (page 106), Highhelm Gear (page 112), Pagulin (page 131)
• Dan Cascone: History (page 12)
• Dana Ebert: Notable Figures (page 38), From Dwarven Legends (page 114)
• Sen H.H.S.: Folgrit (page 119)
• Stephanie Lundeen: A King’s Wish (page 6), Highhelm Overview (page 8), Gazetteer Introduction (page 44)
• Liane Merciel: Trade and Industry (page 20), The Clans (page 30)
• Owen K.C. Stephens: Government, Law, and Crime (page 16)
• Andrew White: Draangvit (page 118), Magrim (page 122), Graul (page 130)

Art by Sammy Khalid

BKOM Studios and Paizo are thrilled to share that Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors will be launching into Steam Early Access on September 14th. Experience Pathfinder through a whole new lens and oppose the legendary villain Tar-Baphon in this roguelite bullet hell survivor game!

The disgraced lich Tar-Baphon was sealed away beneath his ancient seat of power, Gallowspire, but he has cunningly devised the means for his escape. As the wards that contain him begin to fail, three brave heroes step into Gallowspire’s depths, tasked with battling through his army of undead to put an end to his plans.

Players storm Gallowspire as one of three mighty heroes: Fighter, Wizard, or Rogue. While each has their own strengths and talents that will aid their efforts against Tar-Baphon, the task at hand is too much for a lone hero. Choose an ally to fight alongside you as you slay hordes of enemies, collect and upgrade your arsenal of spells and weapons, and eradicate Gallowspire’s terrifying bosses.

There will be many failures throughout your journey, but aided by a mysterious amulet, you can escape death and grow stronger with each attempt. Only those who find the strength to break through Gallowspire may face the eternal emperor. But one victory will not be enough to seal away the Whispering Tyrant forever. Heroes must confront him again and again to buy the world of Golarion the time it needs to prepare for Tar-Baphon’s seemingly inevitable return.

Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors launches into Early Access on September 14th. Those eager to face Tar-Baphon and his undead legion can wishlist Pathfinder: Gallowspire Survivors on Steam. Gamescom attendees can be the first to face the Whispering Tyrant with a hands-on demo. Keep up to date with all the information by joining the official Discord server, liking the game on Facebook, and following BKOM Studios on Twitter.

Features:

• Choose your class: Fighter, Wizard, or Rogue—each featuring unique talents, powers, and playstyles.
• Select a second hero to fight alongside you as a companion character.
• Run the gauntlet of Gallowspire! Overcome all four sections and their bosses to mark a successful run.
• Defeat enemies and collect their essence to obtain and upgrade your powers during the run.
• Earn experience to level up your heroes, and spend talent points to permanently enhance and customize their powers.
• Collect and spend treasure to unlock permanent upgrades for all your heroes.
• Complete quests, defeat bosses, and battle the Whispering Tyrant himself.
• Customize your challenge level across 5 tiers of difficulty. The quest to contain Tar-Baphon is endless!

Hail and huzzah, Starfinders and Pathfinders!

We had a spectacular time at Gen Con in Indianapolis with record-breaking attendance, full Organized Play tables, full demo tables, a gorgeous booth, brisk sales, exciting Pathfinder and Starfinder Society specials, and community awards galore!

At the Show

From customers to content creators to the media, we loved saying hello to everyone who came to see us at panels, Exhibitor Hall at Booth #203, Demo Hall C, and the Sagamore ballroom!

The Paizo-related Crit Awards winners included:

• Best Player | Paizo: SuperDillin
• Best GM | Paizo: DeadAussieGamer
• Best Upcoming Youtube (2 Years or Less): WafflesMapleSyrup
• Best Villain: Azin by No Quest for the Wicked, a Starfinder podcast
• Best TTRPG-Related Charity/Community, Wellness Org, or Event: Rue's TTRPGs for Trans Rights

The ENNIE Awards also announced their Gold and Silver winners.

Congratulations to all the nominees, finalists, and winners—the tabletop roleplaying game community is better for your contributions.

We partnered with the Gen Con Blood Drive this year to give out digital Beginner Boxes for their raffle giveaway. They exceeded their Gen Con record in Day 1 and had over 1000 individual donors throughout the weekend!

And Beyond!

Thank you to everyone who joined us online this weekend, whether that was on our Events Discord for Organized Play games, or on Twitch or YouTube for our prerecorded panels!

• Paizo Keynote Address 
• Pathfinder Rage of Elements–Designer’s Commentary
• Pathfinder Remaster Preview
• Lost Omens Highhelm & Sky King’s Tomb—Developers’ Commentary

In case you missed it, we announced:

• The Starfinder Second Edition is coming and you can download the free Field Test
• You can also save the date for the Pathfinder Playtest of two new, fresh classes starting on September 1. We’ll be livestreaming at 4:00 p.m. Pacific on Thursday, August 31 at twitch.tv/officialpaizo. During the stream, we’ll reveal the two new classes, some of their abilities, and the iconics representing them, so players can dive right into the playtest the following morning.
• You can buy Pathfinder Rage of Elements and Pathfinder Sky King’s Tomb Adventure Path at your local bookstore, game store, or the Paizo Store.
• The Starfinder Society is electing a new First Seeker, and your voice matters!

Hopefully you also took the opportunity expand your gaming options with the 23 for 23% off Gen Con 2023 Sale!

In case you missed it (we did) the Infinite Masters got together and created a Pathfinder Infinite Megabundle filled with content for our setting, lore, and rules. It is still going on so check it out!

Thanks for playing Starfinder and Pathfinder at Gen Con and beyond this year!

OPC Musings

Congratulations on surviving Gen Con, players! I’m assuming, anyway. Like the June update, I’m writing this before Gen Con even begins. What did you think of those new announcements? That Starfinder Second Edition sounds pretty cool! [note to future self: remove this if we don’t announce it so I don’t blow the surprise]

Seriously though, I’m SO excited to finally be able to share all the new information with you all! The new edition of Starfinder, a playtest coming up for Pathfinder, the Remaster on the horizon, and so much more. It’s an exciting time at Paizo HQ! And this blog is chock-full of information, so let’s dive right in.

Digital Adventure Releases

These adventures will be available on August 30, 2023.

Pathfinder Society

Pathfinder Society Intro: Year of Unfettered Exploration*
Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-02: The Blackwood Lost*

Starfinder Society

Starfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Tomorrow's Seekers*†
Starfinder Bounty #9: Burning Ambitions

*part of a subscription
† released early to Venture Officers to run during the month of August

Convention News

This section usually lives at the bottom of the blog, but there’s some news I wanted to make sure had a prominent place! The OP team’s travel schedule for the rest of 2023 has been locked in. Here’s where you can come out and meet us!

August 18-20: I will be at Dragonflight in Bellevue, WA somewhat unofficially.

September 1-4 (Labor Day weekend): I will be attending Gateway in Los Angeles, CA.

Additionally, Josh Foster will be attending DragonCon in Atlanta, GA!

September 29-October 1: Jessica Catalan and I (as well as possibly others) will be attending SkålCon in Minneapolis, MN. A number of Paizo staffers and freelancers will also be at BigBadCon in San Francisco, though we don't have an official presence.

Finally, and perhaps most newsworthy...

December 1-3: Paizo returns to PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, PA! Volunteer applications are now open. This convention will be the first chance for you to demo Starfinder Second Edition with a member of the Starfinder team!

We'll also be running acquisition-focused tables of Pathfinder, Starfinder, and for the first time, board game demos of Goblin Firework Fight and Elemental Stones! I'm very excited to be returning to the show. Again, applications are now open, and we’d love to have you join us!

On top of all of these, the fall months are some of our most active for local conventions. These smaller conventions are a great way to meet your local Pathfinder and Starfinder community, so we recommend you check out our convention calendar to find one near you!

Sanctioning Updates

Has anything interesting been released for Pathfinder lately? Probably not, right?

Ah, well, except Pathfinder Rage of Elements. That’s pretty exciting, and it’s now sanctioned for play! Rules are available on the Character Options page, and there are new boons in the Boon Store for some of the Uncommon options.

For Starfinder Society, the Drift Hackers Adventure Path sanctioning documents have finally been uploaded, allowing you to earn credit for playing through the adventures!

Coming up next will be sanctioning for Pathfinder Adventure: Rusthenge and the Sky King’s Tomb Adventure Path, as well as Starfinder Enhanced. Now that we’re on the other side of Gen Con, we’re also going to be spending time working on the rules regarding the new Remastered books, which we hope to have ready well in advance of their release.

Pathfinder Class Playtest

The Pathfinder Rules & Lore team has announced the next class playtest scheduled for September 1! Pathfinder Society will support this playtest as we’ve supported all class playtests using the rules in the Guide to Organized Play. In short: you can build and play characters using the new rules and apply credit to your existing characters as if they were pregenerated characters.

Remember that GM participation in playtests is opt-in. If a GM chooses not to allow characters from a ruleset they’re not familiar with, that’s entirely acceptable! We hope you all enjoy the newest creations from the Rules & Lore team.

Starfinder Second Edition Field Tests

Starfinder Second Edition is coming! In anticipation of the full playtest in 2024, the Starfinder team has begun releasing Starfinder Field Tests. These bite-size PDFs are packed with information on upcoming classes and rules, as well as the design team’s goals and thoughts. You can download the first one at starfinderplaytest.com.

We just want to clarify that for Starfinder Society play, these options are not legal. Once we get closer to the full playtest, we’ll share the specifics of how Starfinder Society will support it. For now, please enjoy the previews and get ready to playtest at our conventions next year!

Pathfinder and Starfinder Society on Foundry VTT

Some exciting news for our Foundry GMs and players!

Starting August 30th, we’ll be giving Pathfinder and Starfinder Society the same premium treatment on Foundry VTT that we’ve been giving our Pathfinder Adventure Paths. Each of these modules will be a one-time purchase that will be updated throughout the season with new content as we release it, and will be available in both a streamlined version that only provides maps and tokens for those who own the PDFs as well as a deluxe version that also includes fully-styled journals containing all of the adventure content. Keep an eye on the Paizo blog for updates!

First Seeker Election

The polls have opened for the Starfinder Society’s First Seeker election! Agents are flocking from around the galaxy to cast their votes. The early polls are in, and the race is neck and neck (and neck and neck)!

While Starfinder Society Scenario #6-06: Tomorrow’s Seekers releases at the end of the month, Venture Officers have been granted early access to maximize your opportunities to play the adventure before casting your vote. We encourage you all to get out and meet the candidates! As it’s repeatable, you can even play it multiple times for credit to get the clearest view of your options. Once you’ve done so, head to paizo.com/firstseeker to cast your vote.

Pathfinder Society Year 5 Updates

With the launch of PFS Year 5 last week, the following updates have gone into effect!

• The changeling versatile heritage is now freely available to all players, due to the Society’s adventures involving the night hag Aslynn.
• More adventurers of uncommon ancestries have joined the Pathfinder Society in the past few years, so the tengu and ratfolk ancestries are also freely available!
• Additionally, in preparation for their inclusion in the upcoming Pathfinder Player Core book, the tiefling and aasimar versatile heritages are freely available to all players.
• Boons for all of the above freely available options have been removed from the Boon Store. Players who previously purchased those boons will have them updated to grant a free use of the resurrection ritual to those characters, as we have done for past ancestries.
• Finally, due to the influx of planar energy throughout Golarion, the geniekin versatile heritage has been reduced to 40 Achievement Points! This boon has also been updated to include the talos and ardandeheritages from Pathfinder Rage of Elements.

Boon Updates

Boon Request Threads

The OP team gets requests all the time for boons for character options. Now that the Boon Store is up and running, I thought it would be best to centralize those requests in one location, so I did that! There are now Boon Request threads for Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society pinned in their respective forums. Feel free to head over to favorite the suggestions you like and add new ones if they haven’t already been posted.

Seeker of Knowledge

Just a note that, now that replays are functional, the Seeker of Knowledge boons in the boon store also now work correctly! Purchasing one of these boons grants your account 4 SFS Replays, one per reputation tier. Players who previously purchased these boons should now see four additional Replays in their account as well.

Retail Incentive Program Updates

Our Retail Incentive Program is designed to help players support the game stores and venues that host our games, often for free, while earning in-game benefits. Over the past year, we’ve heard some recommendations to improve it, and I’m delighted to share the new version of the program now!

You can download PDFs of the rules for Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society now on the Retail Incentive Program page. The major changes are:

• Adding a new “heroic” tier, unlocked when a table spends of $100 or more
• Altering or replacing boons that reduced the gold cost of healing now that those benefits primarily use Achievement Points
• Making the benefits more versatile and/or slightly more useful

Overall, the intention of programs like the RIP and the Accessory Perks is to provide incentives to players and GMs to support our products and venues. The goal is not for these to be hard rules, but to encourage GMs and organizers to adopt a “spirit of the law” reading of any of these programs to ensure all players are enjoying themselves. Thanks to all the volunteers who provided feedback on these revisions!

GM Recognition

Campaign Service Coins

This month, two new Campaign Service Coins were awarded to volunteers by their RVC. We award these coins to members of the community who have gone above and beyond to provide an exceptional program to the community at large. Campaign Coins are awarded based on nominations; if you believe someone in your community is deserving of this award (whether or not they are a Venture Officer), send an email to organizedplay@paizo.com with their name and reasons

Congratulations to:
Bill Tobin, who now holds a campaign coin and OP ID #896
Brad Grinstead (bigrin42), who nows holds a campaign coin and OP ID #897

Until next time - Explore! Report! Cooperate! And unlock the elemental power within you!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Last month, in our , we announced that we’ve greenlit a standalone Pathfinder novel for release in 2024. To celebrate the return of Pathfinder fiction, we’ve partnered with our friends at Humble Bundle to create a special digital offer to help you and your friends read the cornucopia of past Pathfinder stories and support a great cause!

What is a Humble Bundle? Bundles are limited-time collections of games, books, software, and more. Simply pay what you want and choose where your money goes, whether that be to the publisher, to Humble itself, or even to charity. Most bundles come in tiers starting at only $1—but the more you give, the more you get in exchange!

Inside our bundle, you’ll find fiction written by an esteemed list of award-winning fantasy authors, including Richard Lee Byers, Elaine Cunningham, Ed Greenwood, Dave Gross, Chris A. Jackson, Howard Andrew Jones, Robin D. Laws, Liane Merciel, Erik Mona, Tim Pratt, F. Wesley Schneider, James L. Sutter, and Bill Ward!

The products in this bundle are all digital ePubs that you can redeem with codes at the Paizo Store; you’ll receive one code per tier. There are three tiers to this bundle starting at $5 and going up to a $25 tier. Read our ePub FAQ for answers to any questions you might have.

A portion of your purchase goes to ComicBooks For Kids!, which is the largest charity in the world for comic books and pop culture materials! We’ve been supporting them for a few years now and we know your support has made a difference. Learn more about ComicBooks For Kids! in our past blog, Support ComicBooks For Kids!

Our first Bundle tier starts at $5 and includes a code for eight ePub files worth $30, including:

• “Certainty”
• Hell's Pawns
• “The Lost Pathfinder”
• “Misery's Mirror”
• Nightglass
• Prince of Wolves
• “A Tomb of Winter's Plunder”
• Winter Witch

For $15, you'll also get the ePub files in the first tier, plus a code for 14 more ePub files worth over $60, including: 

• “Bastard, Sword”
• City of the Fallen Sky
• The Compass Stone: The Collected Journals of Eando Kline
• “Guns of Alkenstar”
• Husks
• “A Lesson in Taxonomy”
• Liar's Blade
• Master of Devils
• Nightblade
• “A Passage to Absalom”
• Pirate's Honor
• Plague of Shadows
• “Two Pieces of Tarnished Silver”
• “The Walkers from the Crypt”

In the third tier, for $25, you'll get codes for the previous tiers, plus a code for additional 19 ePub files, worth another $90!

• Blood of the City
• “The Box”
• Called to Darkness
• Dark Tapestry
• Death's Heretic
• “In the Event of My Untimely Demise”
• “Faithful Servants”
• Guilty Blood
• “The Ironroot Deception”
• Light of a Distant Star
• Pirate's Promise
• Plague of Light
• Queen of Thorns
• “In Red Rune Canyon”
• Reign of Stars
• The Shroud of Four Silences
• Stalking the Beast
• The Treasure of Far Thallai
• The Worldwound Gambit

The digital files are associated with your account when redeemed. They are watermarked with the redeemer’s email address when they are downloaded. As such, if you want to give these to someone else as gifts, you’ll want to give them the codes themselves!

Humble Bundles offer great deals and support great causes. Purchasers get a say in how much of their donation goes to each participant at checkout.

Thank you for reading Pathfinder Tales!

The Paizo Team

Support the Pathfinder Tales Bundle!

Greetings, players! We’re pleased to announce that we’ll be attending PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia, PA this December! We’ll be running scenarios, bounties, and demos for Pathfinder and Starfinder Society. We’ll also be running demos of our board games for the first time!

This show will also be your first chance to demo the brand new Starfinder Second Edition! Our volunteers, led by a member of the Starfinder design team, will be showing off this exciting update to our game.

We’re now soliciting volunteers for the show! We are currently seeking volunteers for the following roles:

• Game Master: Run tables of Organized Play Scenarios
• Bounty GM: Run bounty tables for Pathfinder (Second Edition)
• SF2 Demo GM: Run demo tables for Starfinder (Second Edition). Applicants should have strong Starfinder knowledge (both lore and system) and preferably have related demo experience.
• Board Game Demo GM: Run demo tables for Goblin Firework Fight and Elemental Stones. Applicants should have strong board game knowledge (both our games and general board games) and preferably have related demo experience.
• Headquarters (HQ): Answer player and GM questions, seat players, handle conflicts and disputes, and report games after completion

Please read this important information before applying:

• Volunteer applications will be reviewed and accepted or rejected by the PAX Unplugged Organizing Committee. Filling this form out does not guarantee acceptance; you will receive an email with further information from the PAXU committee.
• PAX Unplugged schedules will be assigned by the committee. You will be asked for your preference of system and level, but you will not necessarily be able to choose the specific scenario(s) you run. The committee’s intention is to assign people to run the same scenario multiple times during the weekend. There is a free-form field at the end of the form to enter specific requests, though there’s no guarantee they will be honored.
• Reward information is listed in the table below. GMs who do not qualify for a badge will still need to purchase one.
• Applications will be processed on a rolling basis, beginning no later than August 28. The earlier you get your application in, the more likely it is you’ll get the scenarios you want. Please be patient as we put the final details on the convention internally before we send out GM emails!
• Please note that we will not be providing hotel rooms for GMs. All GMs will need to provide their own accommodation. Parking reimbursement is available for 7+ slot GMs if requested.
• Any questions about the GM signup process should be sent to the committee at paxunplugged[at]gmail[dot]com.

Rewards Table

Blocks	Parking Pass	Hardcover Product	Exhibitor Badge	In-Game Reward	Voucher
7+ blocks	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
6 blocks		✓	✓	✓	✓
5 blocks			✓	✓	✓
4 blocks			✓	✓	✓
3 blocks			✓	✓	✓
2 blocks				✓	✓
1 block				✓	✓

*Definitions for rewards:

• Exhibitor Badge: a badge for the duration of the event.
• In-game reward: A reward for characters based on the current organized play GM reward programs. Pathfinder Society (Second Edition)/Starfinder Society is Achievement Point rewards at the Premier Plus (2.0x) level. Benefits for board game & SF2 Demo GMs are TBD.
• Hardcover Product: GMs at this tier will be able to choose between Pathfinder Player Core, Pathfinder GM Core, or Starfinder Enhanced.
• Parking Pass: Reimbursement for parking at up to $30/day.
• Voucher: earn one voucher for $10 spendable on paizo.com for every block run.

PAX Unplugged 2023 Volunteer Application

Major Conventions Planning Server

Anybody interested in volunteering at PAX Unplugged should join the OPF Major Conventions planning server by clicking the image below. Follow the instructions in #welcome to get access to the relevant channels. All important information will be conveyed on this server as well as via email, so please join the server!

Alex Speidel
Organized Play Coordinator

Brad Fiske and Nicholas Ruchlewicz
PAX Unplugged Organizing Committee

Today we’re ecstatic to officially announce that Starfinder Second Edition is happening. Back in 2017 we released Starfinder, a new game system and setting to stand alongside Paizo’s tried and true Pathfinder brand. Today we’re revealing the next evolution in Starfinder as we announce its second edition and lay out our plans for the future.

This new edition of Starfinder is being designed to be fully compatible with the upcoming release of the Pathfinder Remastered rulebooks and all future Pathfinder Second Edition products. This means that all your Pathfinder content going forward will be compatible with the new edition of Starfinder, and that all Starfinder Second Edition content will work in Pathfinder—with your GM’s permission, of course!

We’ll be releasing a full playtest in Summer 2024, but we wanted to announce the new edition early because it’s our intent to make Starfinder’s playtest the most open playtest Paizo has released to date.

That all starts today with the release of our first Starfinder Field Test. These documents are a little different than the playtest files we’ve released in the past. Each Field Test is a snippet of ongoing design work drafted by the Starfinder team and is intended to show what we’re working on and some of the directions we’re exploring. Our first document focuses on the first five levels of one of our new base classes: the soldier. Along with this, we’ve included some rules for futuristic weaponry and a couple of creatures for you to toss into your games.

Unlike other playtests, the Field Test documents will not be accompanied by a feedback survey, as they are intended to be behind-the-scenes looks at what is coming. Look forward to August 2024, when the full playtest launches for your feedback!

Along with the first Field Test, we also wanted to announce the first four classes to be included in the upcoming Starfinder Playtest Rulebook.

The mystic is a spellcasting class that focuses on the divine and primal traditions and has the unique ability to form a bond with their closest allies. Using their bond to impart a variety of bonuses on their allies, the mystic can also heal them through their shared bond. Once represented by Keskodai, our iconic shirren, a new iconic has taken on the role of the mystic. Chk Chk grew up in his father’s larval container, witnessing all manner of traumatizing adventures in his childhood. Now an adult, Chk Chk has become a devout worshipper of the amalgamate deity, Zon-Shelyn, and believes in channeling suffering into artistic expression.

The soldier gets its first preview in today’s Field Test and specializes in taking hits and unloading with area of effect weapons. With different fighting styles at their disposal, soldiers can focus on different areas of importance, like defense, ranged offense, or even a bit of melee effectiveness. The iconic vesk soldier, Obozaya, returns in all her glory. While she hasn’t turned over her doshko blades yet, age and battle scars have forced Obo to turn her attention to heavy weapons and contributing to the fight in a new way—but don’t worry, she still beats things up in melee!

Along with these two classes, we are also announcing the envoy and the solarian. These classes are still undergoing some internal testing, so we’re going to hold off on saying too much about them for now. What we will say is that the iconic envoy, Navasi, is returning with many years of adventuring behind her. Along with Navasi, we also have a new solarian iconic whose art we’re revealing; we’ll be keeping the remaining details under wraps for the time being. Canny viewers should notice that the art for this iconic is an ancestry that wasn’t in the Starfinder Core Rulebook. That’s because the feline pahtra species are now a core ancestry in Starfinder Second Edition!

Concept sketches for the four iconics. Chk Chk, a shirren mystic. Navasi, a human envoy. Obozaya, a vesk soldier. An unnamed pahtra solarian.
Concept Sketches by Kent Hamilton

To complement this announcement, we’ve also put together a Frequently Asked Questions page related to Starfinder Second Edition, where we’ve included a few more details about the project. Check that out and keep an eye on the Starfinder Playtest page for the latest content and news related to the newest evolution of the Starfinder roleplaying game.

We’re so excited to undertake this journey and hope you’ll be at our side as we take a step into a bold new future together!

— The Starfinder Team

-Thurston Hillman, Managing Creative Director (Starfinder)
-Jenny Jarzabski, Senior Developer
-Dustin Knight, Developer
-Jessica Catalan, Starfinder Society Developer

Hello Pathfinders and Starfinders!
We’re excited to welcome you back to another year of “The Best Four Days in Gaming” at Gen Con Indianapolis.

At the Show

Paizo’s presence will be located in the Exhibitor Hall at Booth #203. This is where you’ll find all of the special products we announced last week, as well as Rage of Elements and all of our other Pathfinder & Starfinder products!

We’ll be giving out special buttons at the booth for each day of Gen Con—a unique design every day! And if buttons are your jam, you’re in luck, because we’ll also be giving out Starfinder Society and Pathfinder Society buttons in our Organized Play area!

The button designs for this year’s Gen Con releases, featuring the cover of Rage of Elements, the cover of Ports of Call, Sprax, Fumbus, and the cover images for this year’s Pathfinder & Starfinder society seasons!

Speaking of Organized Play, we’re excited to call the Sagamore Ballroom home again for Pathfinder Society & Starfinder Society! Games begin at 8 a.m., 2 p.m., and 8 p.m., generic tickets accepted as seats allow. We will also be running walk-up Pathfinder Society Bounties all day! Plus, join us Friday or Saturday evening for the Starfinder Society & Pathfinder Society Specials—collaborative event games with more than 60 tables participating in the same scenario!

Want to get a taste of what Pathfinder, Starfinder, or our board games have to offer? Take a jaunt over to Hall C, where Paizo has demo tables running 20-minute sessions all day long!

While Paizo isn’t hosting any panels as a company at Gen Con, several of our employees are participating in panels at the event!

ORC License—Q&A ft. Erik Mona
Learn about ORC License! We'll explain how game systems are licensed and evolve under the ORC, answer questions about implementation and limitations, and speculate on the future.

WTF Happened With Dungeons & Dragons’ OGL ft. Jim Butler
Journalist Lin Codega and a panel of experts (including Jim Butler and Ryan Dancey) break down what happened with the OGL 1.1 and the fan backlash around Wizards of the Coast.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Tabletop Media But Were Too Afraid To Ask ft. Aaron Shanks
A panel of media creators from both board games and tabletop RPG discussing how we got into our areas, how we work with publishers, and some of the challenges we deal with in the industry. Plus a Q&A.

And Beyond!

Even if you’re not at Gen Con Indy, there’s still fun to be had at home this weekend!

Tune in to our Gen Con prerecorded streams on Twitch and YouTube all weekend to get a glance at what’s coming from Paizo. This year’s panels include:

• Gen Con 2023 Keynote (8/3/23 at 10 a.m. EST)
• Rage of Elements—Designer’s Commentary (8/4/23 at 10 a.m. EST)
• Remaster Preview (8/5/23 at 10 a.m. EST)
• Highhelm & Sky King’s Tomb—Developer’s Commentary (8/6/23 at 10 a.m. EST)

VODs will be available on Twitch directly after the streams.

Organized Play has a plethora of online games happening as a part of Gen Con Online. Browse the available games and sign up for a seat! Note: Gen Con Online uses the Gen Con registration system, not Warhorn.

We’re putting 23 products on special for this year’s Gen Con, and giving you a 23% discount on those products August 1^st through August 6^th. The sale applies to the following products, in all forms print and digital:

1. Pathfinder Core Rulebook
2. Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide
3. Pathfinder Secrets of Magic
4. Pathfinder Guns & Gears
5. Pathfinder Book of the Dead
6. Pathfinder Dark Archive
7. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path
8. All Pathfinder and Starfinder Basic Flip-Mats
9. Starfinder Core Rulebook
10. Starfinder Alien Archive
11. Starfinder Armory
12. Starfinder Alien Archive 2
13. Starfinder Character Operations Manual
14. Starfinder Near Space
15. Starfinder Drift Crisis
16. Pathfinder Lost Omens World Guide
17. Pathfinder Lost Omens Absalom, City of Lost Omens (Special Edition Not Included)
18. Pathfinder Lost Omens Legends
19. Pathfinder Lost Omens Pathfinder Society Guide
20. Pathfinder Lost Omens Monsters of Myth
21. Pathfinder Lost Omens Knights of Lastwall (Special Edition Not Included)
22. Pathfinder Lost Omens Travel Guide
23. Pathfinder Lost Omens Impossible Lands

23 for 23% off Gen Con 2023 Sale

We’re looking forward to seeing you at Gen Con and beyond this year!